


Warrior Or Whisperer

by 10Blue10



Series: The Heart Bind Saga [4]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-10
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-21 04:56:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 34,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14277378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/10Blue10/pseuds/10Blue10
Summary: A few months after Ebony's birth, Eret returns to Berk with news that the rise in dragon tolerance is being met with more resistance, and that Chief Ragnar of Iceland has invited Hiccup, the Dragon Whisperer, to a Gathering of Chieftains so he can show them all that it is possible to live in peace with dragons...but not everything there is as it seems. Not all of the people of Smoking Bay are keen on the idea of life amongst the dragons, and a few of them are willing to go to any lengths to keep Hiccup's way of life from invading their own.





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This story, and the five to follow, are set within the four year time gap covered in the final chapter of TIB. Essentially, they are ‘midquels’, if you will.

It was a beautiful day, one of the first clear skied days in many weeks. Toothless-Hiccup were revelling in it; after the almost daily spring showers, and the cold Hiccup had caught from trying to fly in said showers…it was good to soar freely.

They were heading back home after flying out early in the morning to Dragon Island to check up on the furthest reaches of their territory. Hiccup stretched out on his dragon’s back, his head resting comfortably between Toothless’ split-apart spines, one hand shielding his eyes. *I could stay up here forever* he hummed.

Toothless crooned _contentment_ and agreed, *Same here.* It was so peaceful…

Yet that peace was broken not long after, when they heard a dragon – a Spike-Tail, by the sound of it – calling out to them.

*Alphas!*

The voice was familiar. Hiccup sat up and looked around, before spotting a Spike-Tail off to his right and some way behind them. Toothless veered and swept around to come closer to the dragon. Once he saw who it was, a wide grin split Hiccup’s face. “Eret! Sky Fire! It's good to see you guys!”

“Likewise!” Eret grinned back. Their dragons glided alongside each other, and Eret inquired, “So how are things on the isle of Berk? I assume things have settled down now that the, err, dragon hunter debacle is over.”

“It's Berk we’re talking about, things never settle down” Hiccup said jokingly, “but things are back to normal, for us anyway. So, what brings you back to the archipelago?”

“I think I'd better wait until we get there, tell you and Astrid together. It's really important” Eret explained.

Hiccup shrugged. “Alright. So, how have things been for you and your crew?”

“Oh, well… _we’ve_ been fine. It's been a lot easier with a bigger ship….and harder, there's more deck to swab. Oh, and Aksel has a dragon now, so that's been interesting” Eret revealed.

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah, a Fire-Scale we rescued from a trap. Aksel took care of her whilst her wing was healing, and the next thing we know, she's following him around like a puppy. He tried a bunch of names out on her and she seems to like Cinder the most. Course, it'd be a lot easier to name our dragons if we could just, y’know, ask ‘em.”

Hiccup sighed. “Eret, believe me. If I could give you the ability to understand dragons, I would. Heck, if I could make everyone able to understand dragons, I would. The thing is, I cant. I get a splitting headache every time I do it, and apart from Astrid and my parents it only ever seems to last a couple of hours at most” he reminded the other man.

“I know, I know. Still, maybe you could let Aksel in on the whole ‘hearing thought-speak’ thing. Or at least ask his dragon her real name” Eret suggested.

“If she likes the name Cinder then it's probably because that _is_ her name, or at least close enough. But I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me” Hiccup prompted.

“You're not going to like it” Eret warned. When Hiccup merely raised an eyebrow and gestured for him to continue, he went on, “You know we have a circuit we sail, and on the way we check in on villages we’ve already helped with dragon problems, make sure things aren't going down in flames, literally or otherwise.

“So far it's been okay – I mean, sure, there have been the usual naysayers in every tribe…but they've gotten more vocal lately. Stubborner, as well. I was at a market and one vendor asked if I rode a dragon, and when I said yes – probably should've lied – he refused to sell me anything. Called me a ‘dragon lover’. As if that's some kind of insult” Eret scoffed. 

Hiccup frowned. “And this is in every village you guys have helped? Is this why you've come back?”

“No, that's not it. And it's not in every village we’ve helped, but from what we gathered, it's happening all over the place. More and more people are speaking out against dragons as well as for them. Apparently, they're calling themselves ‘human purists’.”

“But surely, the tribes you’ve helped must _know_ that the dragons aren't” –

“See, that's the other thing. Some places were putting up anti-dragon artillery. They said the local dragons were setting things on fire, breaking and stealing stuff, but we couldn't find anything that would make them go rogue like that. The villagers didn't care. I suppose you can't really blame them, though.”

A memory stirred in Hiccup’s mind…a bitter old man doing everything he could to drive the dragons from Berk, or worse. “It might not have been dragons that caused all the trouble” he pointed out.

“What, you think they're being framed?”

“It wouldn't surprise me. I've seen that happen before” Hiccup recalled, before scowling. “And I have a pretty good idea of who's behind this whole ‘human purist’ idea.”

Eret winced a bit. “Thing is, boss…I'm not sure it _is_ him. Adulfr, I mean” he admitted. Hiccup gave him a sharp _what-are-you-talking-about_ look. He hastily continued, “All I’m saying is, I think this was sort of inevitable. My grandmother used to say, making a change is like throwing a pebble into a pond – it causes ripples. What we’re doing, that's like chucking a boulder into the ocean and causing a tidal wave.”

Hiccup still thought it must be Adulfr trying to stir up trouble…but to his surprise, Toothless agreed with Eret. * _Maybe he's right. Maybe this is just humans being humans and it isn't some big secret plan_ * he suggested. After all, one of them had to be reasonable.

* _I guess so, but I'm still not happy about this. I just wish there was more I could do._ *

_*So do I, but we can't help everyone.*_

* * *

Upon their return to Berk, Sky Fire followed Toothless’ lead and they swept down to land outside Hiccup’s house. Helena was playing with her friends, Oswald and Camacazi, whilst a pair of luminous green eyes in a head that seemed too small for them peered out from between her mother’s paws. Selena was helping Valka and Agatha keep an eye on the children.

The game was abandoned almost immediately upon their arrival. Helena greeted her father and Eret with her usual infectious enthusiasm, begging “Wanna fly!” until Eret scooped her up and tossed her into the air.

Hiccup dismounted; Toothless padded over to nuzzle Selena and Ebony, whilst Hiccup kissed his mother on the cheek and smiled politely at Agatha. He laughed at the sight of Eret trying to keep his balance with both Helena and Cammie clinging like monkeys to his legs. Ozzie had retreated to Valka’s side and was peering shyly at Eret from behind a fold of her cloak.

“Ah! Defeated by four year olds, what a cruel fate. Hello, Valka, Agatha” Eret nodded to the women. His eyes landed on Selena, and then inevitably on the kit she was cradling. “Aww, and who’s this little cutie?”

“She's my dragon” Helena announced cheerfully, releasing Eret’s left leg to toddle up to Selena and crouch down to pet the baby Night Fury. “Her name’s Bunny” she added.

“Eret has some important news – so important, it could wait for us to get back here” Hiccup said wryly. “I take it Astrid’s still in the Hall?” he guessed. It was Gripe Day.

“Last time I checked” Valka nodded, “Do you want me to go and fetch her?”

"No, we’ll go up to her” Hiccup decided, vaulting back into the saddle. “Eret and I are just going to see mummy, okay darling?”

“Kay!” Helena was playing tug-of-war with Ebony and a much abused strip of cloth, and not really listening.

From the front of his house to the doors of the Great Hall was little more than a leap…call him spoiled, but Hiccup had grown out of the habit of walking up hill. Why trudge up all those stone steps when he and Toothless could just land right outside?

Once the men had dismounted, Eret removed a scroll from his saddle bag and sent Sky Fire off to entertain himself. Then the older man put a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder and simply asked, “Bunny?”

“Oh, that. No, we named her Ebony” Hiccup corrected, “after Toothless’ mother. But then Helena realised that Ebony sounded a bit like ‘a bunny’, and the next thing we know…but I'm sure she’ll grow out of it. She's only four” he reasoned.

Eret looked sceptical. “Grow out of it, huh? You mean like you did?” he wondered. Toothless chuckled. Hiccup rolled his eyes at both of them.

They went inside the Hall. Astrid was sitting in the throne, listening to the various requests and complaints of the villagers queued up in front of her and trying not to look bored. She perked up considerably when she glanced up and spotted Hiccup and Eret. As soon as she'd finished sorting out the most recent person, Astrid got to her feet and announced, “Gripe Day is hereby postponed until further notice. Unless your request is urgent”-

Several hands were raised until she added, “By which I mean life-threatening”, at which point they went down, “then I am going to have lunch, and that's final” she finished.

“You heard her! The Chief’s had enough of your whining, come on, everybody out!” Snotlout declared, herding the queue of villagers towards the doors. Meanwhile, Astrid walked over to her husband. He kissed her and asked, “Long morning?”

“Ugh, you have no idea” she grimaced, resisting the urge to drop her head onto his shoulder. “Hi, Eret. I didn't know you were coming back” she remarked as she shared a hug with him.

“Ah, I've got something to tell you. Well, give you, really” he explained, unrolling the scroll in his hand and reading it aloud. “ _Ahem._ Ragnar the Bold, Chieftain of the Smoking Bay tribe, hereby invites Hiccup Haddock, Dragon Whisperer of the Hooligan tribe, to the Althing of Iceland to present his case for an alliance between the dragons and the people of Iceland to a Gathering of Chieftains. Then there's the date and time and place, formal stuff, blah blah…so, what do you think?”

Hiccup and Astrid looked at one another. “He wants me to go to…Iceland...and try to persuade the chieftains there that they can live in peace with dragons?” Hiccup tried to clarify.

“Pretty much. I'd have thought you'd jump on an opportunity like this, boss” Eret remarked, “You call yourself the Dragon Ambassador – this is kind of what an ambassador _does.”_

Hiccup shook his head. “No, no, it’s not that I don't want to. Like you say, this is an incredible opportunity. It's just…how far away is this Iceland? I know it isn't in the archipelago.”

“No, it’s to the southwest. How long it takes to get there depends on the wind, because you’d need to rest on the ship at night. There's nothing but open ocean for miles between Iceland and the southernmost islands of the archipelago” Eret informed them, before adding, “the _Crashing Tide II_ is waiting for us just south of Berserker Island. Weather willing, it'll take us five days to get to Smoking Bay from there. The Althing lasts three days.”

Agitated, Hiccup ran a hand through his hair. “See, that's the thing. I would love to go, but can Toothless and I leave our pack for that long? Not to mention, Bunny is only a few months old; I don’t want Toothless to have to leave her and Selena this early…”

Eret raised an eyebrow and pointed out, “You said ‘Bunny’, not Ebony.”

“Eret, I told you why Helena calls her that.”

“Yeah, but that doesn't explain why _you're_ calling the poor thing Bunny.”

“If Helena has decided that her dragon’s name is Bunny, then I'm the last person who should be arguing with her” Hiccup reasoned, before admitting, “and besides…it's sort of growing on me.”

When Toothless, Eret and Astrid all gave him _are-you-kidding-me_ looks, he got a bit defensive. “What?! I think it's cute that Helena gave her a nickname. Besides, when her little ear-flaps perk up, she kind of does look like a bunny. A black, scaly one…but still!”

Eret said sarcastically, “Well, you've got me convinced!”

“Let me see that letter” Hiccup said instead, trying to get back on topic. Eret handed it to him; he read it and immediately noticed something. “Eret, it says here that this Gathering is supposed to take place just over a week from now.”

“Oh, uh, so it does.”

“Which means I only have one day to decide if I'm going to this Althing or not?”

“Uh…yeah…bad timing, huh?”

“Eret…when Ragnar asked you to give this invitation to me, you _did_ tell him I might not be able to come?”

The other man winced. “….See, the thing is, he didn't really seem like the type of guy you say ‘no’ to…”

Hiccup groaned. “You committed me to come to a very important gathering before you even knew if I could?!”

"Oh, like you've never done that before” Eret retorted.

Astrid held her hands up to cut off the oncoming argument. “That's enough, you two. It doesn't matter now; what's done is done.”

“Well, what do you think about this?” Hiccup asked her, waving the letter in his hand.

“If I were you, I'd go. This is a chance to make a difference beyond the archipelago, Hiccup, you'd be stupid not to take it” she said, before adding, “but it's not up to me. You should talk to Selena, but at the end of the day, the only person who can decide whether to go or not is you. And Toothless, of course.”

“Yeah. Exactly” Eret agreed with the chief, nodding. “Now, uh, I don't mean to impose…but did you say something about lunch?”

* * *

Hiccup felt torn. On the one hand, the idea of travelling to a distant land to establish peace between the humans and dragons there, almost seemed too good to be true. On the other hand, it meant leaving the pack for what might be two weeks or more, leaving Selena with a newborn kit to take care of, leaving Helena.

After the disasters that had happened when he'd left Berk during the war, despite knowing it wasn't his fault…Hiccup couldn't help but feel wary of flying so far away. Too far to be able to return in a hurry if anything should go awry.

*What do you think we should do?* he asked Toothless, whilst Eret and Astrid were busy with their own conversation over lunch.

*I think we should go with Eret to this…whatever he called it.*

*Really?*

*Yes, really. You want to change minds about dragons, don't you? This is your chance. The pack will be fine on their own for a while.*

*Are you reading my mind?*

*You know it doesn't work that way. I just know you. We’ve left Berk many times and nothing has happened – and we're not at war anymore! There's no one to attack our Nest, and if anyone tries, Urchin will blast them with ice.*

*What about you, Selena? Would you and Ebony be okay?*

*Of course* she purred, watching fondly as Helena, Cammie and even Ozzie fed Ebony scraps of fish. *I’m sure Stormfly will help me look after Ebony, won't you?*

*Of course Astrid and I will help* the blue dragon chirped agreeably, *She’s such a dear little thing.*

*And I'll be happy to watch over the pack in your absence, Alphas* Cloud Jumper offered…although he was secretly hoping that they would not be away too long. He had patience, but not for many of his fellow flock-mates antics, whether they had wings and tails or not. In most cases, it was the latter, except for Valka of course.

It seemed he was outvoted. *Well then…I guess we’re going to Iceland, bud* he remarked to Toothless, who purred happily.

*That’s settled, then. I have a question.*

*What’s that?*

*Do you think Selena and I look like bunnies?*

*You mean when you prick your ear flaps up? Of course not…you look more like giant kitty cats* Hiccup teased.

*I will jump on you* Toothless warned, glaring at his other half through narrowed eyes.

Of course Hiccup pushed his luck. *Or maybe really big hares* - “Agh!” he cried out, as Toothless followed through with his threat and knocked his smaller half over. He pinned Hiccup there and the man struggled, protesting “No, no, don't you dare, don't you – ah! Ha, ha – no – ah!” He was helpless to stop Toothless tickling him.

The adults stared, and began to chuckle; Hiccup tried to glare at them all or ask for help, but couldn't catch his breath long enough; then Helena and Cammie scrambled over to gleefully join the tickle fight, only for Toothless to release Hiccup so they could gang up on the smaller ones. It was pretty much chaos after that.

Lunch had nearly been over anyway.

* * *

*I hate boats* Toothless moaned. They were flying towards Iceland, after a very long journey that meant spending four nights on a ship, because there was nowhere else to land. Toothless had gotten seasick. He _really_ hated boats.

Hiccup patted him comfortingly; he'd felt a bit under the weather himself on board ship. He could handle loop the loops and corkscrews in madcap flight, but a tilting and pitching deck? That was another matter entirely. Still, it would be four days before they had to endure nightly travel by ship again.

He might have to rethink this whole ‘going to distant lands’ thing, or at least come up with a nicer way to get there.

Gradually, a large landmass swelled on the horizon and grew to engulf it as they flew closer. It was off to their right, and if they flew straight on, they'd go right past it. Sky Fire leaned into the wind; Toothless followed his lead and they shifted to fly towards the island. It was the largest one Hiccup and Toothless had ever seen; far bigger than any island in the archipelago.

“Well, here we are” Eret announced, “Hiccup, Toothless, welcome to Iceland. Great view, isn't it?”

A great view indeed...snow-capped volcanoes towered, their rocky flanks with rivers of cooled lava snaking down. Real rivers tumbled down through valleys and over waterfalls, across plains of hardy grass and wildflowers, pouring out into fjords and inlets and bays. Smoke rose from the craters and steam from hot springs, as if the whole island was alive and breathing.

There was life there, too. Not just the plants, but the animals; including plenty of dragons. They swarmed around the volcanoes, and dived into the ocean – this was a good island for dragons. It was also a good island for humans, and there were many villages on the coast and further inland. Hiccup hoped he would be able to convince them they could live in peace alongside each other.

“They call it the land of fire and ice; no prizes for guessing why” Eret remarked. “Don't worry, we've checked – there are no giant cannibal dragons living in any of the volcanoes.”

“Oh, well that's good to know.”

“Smoking Bay is on the far side of the island, beyond those headlands there. By the way, Smoking Bay is the name of the town, the tribe and the bay. It's kind of confusing.”

“Why is it called”- Hiccup didn't get a chance to finish that sentence before they heard the rush of wind across wings, and their dragons dived out of the way of an attack. A temperamental Fire-Scale shrieked *Trespassers!* at them, body engulfed in hot flames.

*No threat!* Sky Fire screeched back. This happened _every_ time.

Toothless was more direct. * **Begone**!* he roared commandingly. Caught off guard by having a dragon give him orders as an alpha would, the Fire-Scale turned tail and fled.

Toothless and Sky Fire resumed their flight path. After a few moments, Eret cleared his throat and asked, “Uh, what were you saying?”

“Oh, right. Why do they call it Smoking Bay?”

“You’ll see when we get there” was all Eret would say.  

* * *

It wasn't long before they came in sight of the bay, and it was obvious where the name had come from. All around the bay were volcanic springs with steam billowing from the hottest. It really did look as if the bay was smoking. They could see the _Crashing Tide II_ dropping anchor some ways offshore, and the rest of Eret’s crew flying out towards the sprawling town that surrounded the bay.

Toothless and Sky Fire swept down, overtaking the other dragons and landing in a cleared circle. The townspeople surrounded them, staring and whispering. A heavy set middle aged Viking with a thick but neatly braided black beard stepped forwards. He had spear wielding guards on either side, and to his right there stood a thin man with a dragon brooch pinning his cloak.

The riders dismounted. “Chief Ragnar, it's good to be back so soon” Eret declared with a charming smile and a bow. “As requested, I have brought Hiccup Haddock with me to attend the Gathering at your invitation” he went on, gesturing to Hiccup with more of a flourish than was perhaps necessary.

Hiccup gave a respectful nod to the Chief. “Thank you for inviting us here, Chief. Toothless and I are honoured.” Beside him, the black dragon met Ragnar’s gaze and gave the same respectful nod.

“You're welcome! I am glad that you could come. Call me Ragnar, and welcome to Smoking Bay” the chief flung an arm out to gesture at everything at once. He then waved a hand at the man on his right and continued, “You must meet Ormar, my right hand man.”

Hiccup held out a hand to him and remarked, “It's a pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, no, the pleasure is all mine” Ormar responded, as they briefly gripped the other’s forearm. “It's an honour to meet the famous Dragon Whisperer, and your magnificent Night Fury” he praised, looking at Toothless as if the dragon was the most incredible thing he'd ever seen. His stare was unsettling, but Toothless refused to show discomfort and stared challengingly right back.

“Don't tell him that; his ego is big enough as it is” Hiccup joked. He ducked as Toothless swatted a broad-finned tail at him. * _Just kidding_ * he said placatingly. Well, mostly.

“You've had a long journey, and not all of the chiefs have arrived. Come! First, we will eat and drink” Ragnar insisted. He led them up through the town, past the muttering crowd that had come out to watch the dragons prowling through the streets.

Not all of them were content to simply mutter. “This is a town, not a dragon’s nest!”

“We don't want those fire-breathing fiends here!”

“It's not called Smoking Bay cos we want it all set ablaze!”

“Go home, lizard lovers!”

Toothless glared at the nearest shouter, but Hiccup gestured for him to follow on. *You need to be on your best behaviour, Toothless. All of you; Sky Fire, Cinder, everyone* he warned.

“You see what I mean?” Eret was saying. “This is just insults, but if Ragnar wasn't right there, it could be getting ugly.”

“I know, Eret. We’ll just have to ignore them; they can't make us leave, not if their chief has invited us here.”

* * *

Ragnar took them all to a long, low building with intricate carvings on the lintel, and dragon horns mounted above the door. “There is no room for the dragons inside, but we have fish for them to eat” he said, gesturing to the barrels of herring that were being prised open. The wind carried the sharp reek of them to the dragons, who craned their necks eagerly, nostrils flaring.

Leaving the dragons to devour barrels of fish, Ragnar led his guests into the building, where a long table and benches had been set with plates of food. He had Hiccup sit on his left as a guest of honour, and asked numerous questions about what had happened since they last met. Hiccup deflected most of the attention onto Eret; not that he was embarrassed, but the most noteworthy things that had happened were also things that needed to be kept secret.

“We never should have listened to Adulfr” said Ormar, shaking his head regretfully. He then asked Hiccup, “Had you encountered the man before? From what I gather, he was attempting to seek revenge on you for some wrongdoing?”

“I had no idea he existed until he decided to reveal himself” Hiccup admitted. “He wanted revenge for my dragon killing his father; what the witnesses failed to mention was that Hauke tried to kill me first. Not that it mattered to him.”

Ormar looked slightly alarmed. “Would your dragon always be so ruthless at your command?” he asked.

“Ruthless!” Eret exclaimed, “That's good, you should change his name to that. It still kind of sounds the same.”

Hiccup rolled his eyes, but he knew Eret was only kidding. “His name is fine the way it is” he retorted, before turning back to Ormar. “Toothless would do anything to protect me, and I him. I didn't ask or command him to kill Hauke, or to kill anyone. He merely…took matters into his own claws. He does have a mind of his own, after all.”

“Yes, yes, of course. I meant no offence” Ormar apologised.

Hiccup waved it off. “It's fine. It just gets a bit tiresome, having to explain that Toothless isn't some vicious demon of the night ready to strike at my command. Now, if you ask us to show off our flying prowess, that never gets old” he admitted.

“And you say Toothless has a big ego” Eret scoffed. Hiccup shrugged. He didn't need an audience, he just loved to fly, but he had to admit there was a thrill in seeing the wide eyed amazement on people’s faces as they watched him and Toothless rule the skies.

“There are rumours that you can read the creature’s minds” said Ragnar, “and turn them to your will.”

“With all due respect, those rumours are nonsense” Hiccup replied. “Of course I can't read dragon’s minds; I just know them well. It might seem like some kind of magic, but it's just knowledge, practice and a bit of natural talent.”

“Now, see, Chief, what did I tell you?” Ormar interjected, “Ridiculous, all of it. It gets worse, would you believe” he said to Hiccup, “I've heard talk of blood magic, or that the gods cursed you, or that you're not really a man at all, but some kind of…”

“Lycanwing?” Hiccup finished for him.

“He's a man, alright” Eret put in, “just ask his wife.”

Hiccup kicked his friend under the table. “I know that Adulfr spread a lot of bad rumours about me, but none of them are true. I'm just a man who loves dragons and wants to bring our worlds together.”


	2. Part Two

Word arrived that the last of the chieftains had arrived. Ragnar went to greet them, and left Ormar to bring Hiccup and Toothless to the ring when everything was prepared. They were holding the Gathering at the ring and not the Althing-House as per tradition, so that Hiccup could more easily demonstrate his skill with dragons.

When they arrived, he wished Hiccup luck and made his way to the side of Ragnar’s chair. The ring was surrounded by a crowd of Vikings, with the Chieftains seated in throne-like chairs around the perimeter. At orders from Ragnar, the portcullis was raised. Hiccup took a deep breath, and stepped through with Toothless at his side.

Nobody spoke, and all eyes were on them. He reminded himself, chin up, back straight; he needed to make a good impression. Toothless raised his jaw challengingly, wings spread. His glossy black scales gleamed in the sunlight, tinged with iridescent violet and cerulean. Both of them looked confident; perhaps only one of them really felt it. Hiccup wondered if he should speak, but then Ragnar’s booming voice rang out over the crowd.

“Open the cage!”

Chains rattled as the bar was raised from the doors of the cage right in front of them. Hiccup was shocked – neither Eret nor Ragnar had told him he'd be facing a dragon, he thought they had been sent to the ring to give him more space to work with!

Before it was even half open, a torrent of flame burst out of the gap, and the crowd gasped. Toothless and Hiccup had moved long before the fire swept towards them, and the latter eyed the flames trying to judge what kind of dragon it was. In seconds he ran through _high power, very hot, stoker class, vortex-_

 _*_ Fire-Spinner _*_ Toothless growled. Sure enough, a long grey muzzle appeared as the doors creaked open wider, with smaller nostrils and slightly shorter fangs than a Fire-Scale.

*You win this time* Hiccup acknowledged. Next time, _he'd_ guess the dragon breed first.

The furious dragon emerged from the cage, snarling viciously, and reared to stretch his wings as far as they could go – Hiccup’s jaw dropped when he saw the Typhoomerang in the light, because he hadn't seen many of them, but there was no mistaking this one.

“ _Torch_?!”

* * *

The Fire-Spinner had raised his head to roar at the staring crowd, but at Hiccup’s incredulous shout, he snapped it down to stare at them. Slitted pupils glared suspiciously, and Toothless hackled, snarling himself. *Not _you_!*

Hiccup swatted his nose. “Be nice” he scolded, before looking up at the bigger dragon. *Torch, it’s us! Hiccup and Toothless!*

The suspicion turned to wide eyed surprise. Torch leaned down to peer and sniff at them more closely, unable to help giving a curious croak. Hiccup approached him fearlessly and reached out a hand; the young dragon sniffed at his palm, and Hiccup pressed it against his horn.

*It is you! But you thought-spoke, humans can't do that, how did you do that?*

*Toothless and I are heart bound* Hiccup explained. Torch’s eyes flicked from Hiccup’s face to Toothless, and the two shared a stare of mutual disdain. *Oh, don't you two start. You're like a couple of hatchlings* Hiccup said dismissively.

Toothless glared at him with an indignant grunt. *I don't care if he annoys you; we’re the adults here, okay?* Hiccup insisted. The Night Fury clearly wasn't happy about it, but he reluctantly agreed to be civil…for now. If the flaming rat got on his nerves again, he wouldn't apologise for whatever it was he ended up doing. 

*Are you here to rescue me?* Torch asked, with a fearful and pleading whine. *It’s horrible here! The humans, they came with nets and caught me, and I'd done nothing wrong, I didn't hurt anyone! And they trapped me and I was so scared, I thought I was gonna die, they were gonna kill me!* he wailed.

“Hey, hey, shh, shh, shh” Hiccup soothed him, petting at his snout as he whimpered until even Toothless felt pity tug at his heart. “It's okay, Torch. We’re here to help” Hiccup murmured, before moving to stare in challenge at the chieftains sitting above him. “Ragnar, you need to set every dragon you've imprisoned here free, _now_ ” he commanded, fierce and sure.

The crowd grew restless; someone shouted out, “You'll be killed!”

“No, I won't! Ragnar, I have known this Typhoomerang since he was a hatchling. He's not a threat to your people, he's just troublesome. He's only twelve years old!”

At that, many people gasped; in surprise, disbelief, outrage; he didn't know, and it didn't matter. “That's right. You locked up a _twelve year old_ in a dark cage by himself, and for what? How long has he – any of them – been here? Tell me!”

The chieftains were shocked at his audacity. “There are no other dragons” Ormar began in a placating tone, “That one was caught not just last night, and he hasn't been harmed…”

“Being locked up alone in the dark is harmful, Ormar! Could none of you see how frightened he was? He…he must have thought you were going to kill him!” Hiccup was furious; he glared up at Ragnar and demanded, “What would _possibly_ make you think I'd be okay with this?”

Ragnar spluttered and tried to protest, “But I needed him! I needed a powerful dragon for you to tame, to prove” –

“Prove _what_ , that I know what I'm doing? Well, mission accomplished! Now that you've seen me tame this dragon, you can get on with setting him and any other dragon you've captured go free – and that goes for all of you!” he challenged, turning in a circle to address the other chieftains. “You want to make peace with dragons, the first step is to _not lock them in cages_.”

“How dare you speak to us like that, outsider!” a different chieftain shouted, rising to his feet. “What right do you have to tell us what to do?”

Hiccup spun around to face the speaker and replied, “When it comes to dragons, I like to think I'm a pretty good authority on the matter. Or did you not just see me calm down Torch?”

“I hardly think that counts” the man scoffed, “You said yourself, you know that dragon. If it were wild, that would be another matter entirely.”

Hiccup didn't know what to retort first – that just because Torch knew them didn't make him tame, or that Torch wasn't an ‘it’ – but before he could, somebody screamed out, “ _Dragon raid_!” 

All eyes turned to the sky, where dragons of all shapes and sizes were descending upon them. In the lead was a large scarlet Fire-Spinner, and at the sight of her, Torch perked up and whistled joyfully. *Mother!*

“Come on!” Hiccup yelled, sprinting for the still open portcullis. Toothless met him partway and he vaulted onto the Night Fury’s back, the two of them taking off and flying out of the ring. *Wait for me!* Torch yelped, scrambling after them. From the edges of the crowd, Eret and his crew flew up on their own dragons, ready to distract the attackers and turn them away from the village.

The female Typhoomerang soaring high above roared out, and dragons dived upon the crowd surrounding the ring. People screamed and fled; the dragon wranglers went on the defensive, blocking the attacks and buying everyone time to flee.

"Torch can't get out!” Hiccup cried, seeing that the frantic dragon was clawing at the now lowered portcullis and the mesh above the ring. Suddenly, they had to roll out of the way of an attack as a blue Typhoomerang shot a blast of flame at them. *Stay away from my brother, false Alpha!* she screamed at them.

“False what?!”

*Rival! Usurper! Fight me, I **challenge** you!* the scarlet Fire-Spinner shrieked from on high. They looked up to see her hovering there, with the Fire-Scale they'd scared off earlier coiling around her. At the sound of her roar, the dragons fell back, attackers and defenders alike.

Now, Hiccup understood everything. “Eret! Get Torch out of that ring” he ordered, when the other man flew over to join him, “Toothless and I are going to have a word with his mother.”

Before Eret could ask what the heck they were doing, Toothless and Hiccup shot towards their challenger. They came at her straight on and she flamed at them, but they just kept going, straight through the vortex of fire. When it stopped, Toothless snapped into a hover mere metres from her jaws, the gusts from her great wings nearly dislodging him from the sky.

He kept his balance and on his shoulders, Hiccup did the same. *No threat!* he cried out, holding his palms up to her, pacifying. *We’re not rivals!*

Flare Twirl was furious – first her son had been captured by humans, forcing her to abandon him, and then a rival – some upstart Swift-Wing – had come to take her pack. So she was deaf to Hiccup’s pleas, and flamed at them again, forcing them to drop and roll out of the way.

Toothless charged a blast of his own to fire at her vulnerable belly, but Hiccup shouted, “No!” and clamped hands around his jaws. *Listen to me! We’re here to help!* he pleaded with Torch’s mother, who must also have been the Queen of the local pack. His old friend was just full of surprises!

*Liar! You are a rival, and I will _not_ let you steal my pack, Swift-Wing!* she screeched back.

*We’re not here to* - but Hiccup’s protest was cut off when Toothless roared out, *Come and get us then!*

He fired a blast to distract her and dived away, towards the outskirts of the town. “What are you doing?!"

* _She won't listen to us! We need to take her down first, then she’ll pay attention!*_

 _*No! Toothless, she's just confused! I think she thinks I'm you*_ Hiccup realised. She must have thought that it was Toothless speaking, not him, because he was human, and humans weren't supposed to be able to think-speak.

* _Is she chasing us?*_

Hiccup risked a glance over his shoulder. * _Yeah, and she looks angry*_ he replied.

* _Good. Now hold on tight!*_

With that, Toothless went into a steep dive. Flare Twirl followed him, but halfway down she realised what was going on. Her eyes narrowed; she spread her wings as if to pull out of the dive, and then snapped them together fast and hard. A gale like blast of air rushed to overtake the Swift-Wing and his human pet, catching at them like swiping claws and dragging them to the ground that was now far too close for comfort.

Hiccup crouched instinctively, and Toothless fought to keep from crushing his other half as they crashed and tumbled and rolled. His restraints snapped and Hiccup fell from Toothless’ back, rolling and sliding to an inelegant, winded halt in the mud. Panting, spitting in disgust as the filth he’d skidded into, he struggled to get to his feet.

 Toothless moaned and dragged himself to his paws, limping over to Hiccup. Fire bloomed around them; the crazy Fire Spinner trapped them in a spiral of it, getting closer and closer. Toothless tried to spread his wings but the right one burned with pain – by the Moon, don't let it be broken – and all he could do was stand over his partners more vulnerable form…

* * *

*STOP!!* a familiar voice shrieked, as Torch swept in, the downdrafts from his wings fanning away much of the fire. He landed and crouched over the downed pair, wrapping his wings around them protectively and pleading *Don’t hurt them, please! They're my friends!*

Flare Twirl landed hurriedly and cried out, *Flame Whirl! You're free!* She leaned over to nuzzle him; then two more Typhoomerangs, the blue one from before and a yellow one, landed as well, both eagerly greeting Torch with affectionate nips and licks and curious whistles and concerned croons.

Sheltered by Torch’s wings, Hiccup and Toothless were catching their breath, wincing in shared pain and sympathy at their bruises and the pain in Toothless’ wing. “It's okay, it's not broken” Hiccup reassured him, checking the injury. “I think it's just sprained. It'll be fine in a day or so.”

He looked up at their unexpected rescuer and said *Thank you, Torch…I mean, Flame Whirl.*

*Call me Torch, I like it better* the young dragon purred at him, even as the other three started in shock at a human using thought-speak. Flare Twirl stared in disbelief, so did her daughter, but her youngest son lowered his head to sniff at the human, asking *Did this human just think-speak?*

*You just heard him!* his sister rolled her eyes. The yellow dragon’s eyes narrowed indignantly and he growled at her. Their mother snapped at both of them, scolding.

*You guys, this is the human who looked after me when I got lost on that little island up north. Hiccup said he and Toothless - that's the Swift-Wing – are heart bound* Torch explained to his siblings. He looked down at the pair and told them, *This is my mum, Flare Twirl, my big sister Fire Swirl, and my little brother Spark Spin.*

 _I'm seeing a pattern here_ Hiccup thought wryly. *It’s nice to meet you all* he said, looking up at Flare Twirl. *I’m sorry about all this, your Majesty* he apologised.

* _You’re_ sorry?!* Toothless exclaimed with an indignant yelp, *Hiccup, she just tried to kill us!*

*It was a misunderstanding* Hiccup said, far too patiently for Toothless’ liking. *Besides, you know stoker class dragons can be kind of…hot-headed.* A smile tugged at his lips. *Get it?*

The black dragon’s expression summed up his opinion of Hiccup’s joke. Then he swiped his tongue over Hiccup’s face, which was the only response a terrible joke like that deserved.

Flare Twirl bent to sniff at them as well. *It _is_ you…but you were not an Alpha then!* she protested.

Toothless met her gaze challengingly and curled his tail in a possessive embrace around Hiccup. *No, _we_ weren't* he replied with a pointed stare, *and we are _not_ here to take over your pack. We have our own flock to care for* he insisted. He hated when his best-beloved one was dismissed, whether by humans or dragons, and he wouldn't stand for it here.

*Then why come here?* she demanded, accusing him, *You and your human were in the cage they'd put my son in. Why play nice with those pests when they trapped you to make you fight?*

*We weren't fighting* Hiccup tried to explain.

*Don’t be ridiculous* Flare Twirl growled at him, *That’s what the round cage is for! Humans came here long ago to make nests in our territory, and they wouldn't be chased off and they fought back, and dragons died! My pack had to flee from this bay; I let the humans live there so long as they didn't come to attack us, but then they steal away my son! Why shouldn't we burn them all?!* she shrieked, aggrieved, when a burst of flame caught her eye and she recoiled, shocked.

The human had made flames from nothing, and wreathed them around himself like a Fire-Scale, that was what the flames smelled of. They burst from something in his hand, and they stayed burning, and he met her eyes unafraid as if he was an Alpha, an equal to her, and not a creature she could kill with the flick of a claw. *It’s okay. I'm not like them, see?* he hummed reassuringly.

Spark Spin glanced up and whimpered, *Look!*

Everyone looked. Much to Hiccup’s relief, it wasn't a threat, only Eret and Safira. Riding with them were Ragnar and Ormar. Flare Twirl snarled, spreading her wings and drawing in a breath to flame at them, but that strange human cried out to her. *No! Please, they're not threats! They're our friends. Let me talk to them. Toothless…try and explain it to them* he said vaguely, limping towards the others.

* * *

When Hiccup reached them, Eret’s verdict was “You look awful.”

“Thank you for summing that up. What took you so long?”

“Putting out fires. Besides, I kind of thought you had everything under control until that epic wipeout. I was gonna come rescue you!” Eret said hastily, “but the big guy got there first.”

“ _Uh-huh_.”

“Is all well?” Ormar asked, “The attack, is it over?”

“Of course! We drove the beasts back, and we will do it again if we have to” Ragnar announced boldly.

“I don't think that's wise, chief” Ormar advised.

“No, it isn't” Hiccup agreed, before explaining, “Toothless is trying to persuade Flare Twirl not to burn the whole bay to the ground.”

“That's the red one?” Safira assumed.

“Yep. She's the Queen of the local pack. She's also Torch’s mother.”

Eret winced. “Is that why she was attacking?” he asked.

“Partly. You know that dragon who attacked us when we first arrived? He recognised Toothless as an Alpha and went to warn his Queen, and she thought we were here to challenge her and take over her pack. Kidnapping her son didn't help things, though.”

Hiccup turned to Ragnar, who looked somewhat bewildered. “You need to apologise to Flare Twirl” he insisted.

“Apologise?” Ragnar said incredulously, “to the dragon? What difference would it make?”

“All of it” Hiccup replied. He hesitated, and then added, “The truth is, dragons can understand us. They just have trouble showing it, but when you know what to look for…” he shrugged.

“Even if I believed you, what is it I'm supposed to be apologising for?” Ragnar demanded.

“For capturing her son, and for your people driving her pack’s ancestors from the bay when they first settled here. I know, it was long ago, but they haven't forgotten. I imagine that's why they've attacked you before, trying to drive you out of what they see as their territory.”

“This is our home!” Ragnar scowled, “My tribe has lived here for twelve generations!”

“Yes, but as far as the dragons are concerned, they were here first” Hiccup insisted. “I'm not saying you have to leave; this _is_ your home, but it was their home once too. Make peace with their Queen, and it's the first step to both sides getting what they want.”

Ragnar considered it. “Very well. I will trust you on this, Hiccup Haddock” he decided, and they shook hands.

* * *

Meanwhile, Toothless had been explaining everything to the Fire-Spinners. *The humans weren't going to kill you* he told Torch, *And we would have made them let you go*.

*But why did they trap me in the first place?* Torch asked, shuddering as he remembered all those chains coiling like cold metal snakes around him, fouling his wings and pinning his jaw, something biting into his shoulder, and waking up alone and afraid in a dark cage that smelled of old fear.

*The chief…the alpha, I mean, of this human pack* Toothless began, sweeping his tail to indicate the village, *told his subjects and other human alphas that my Hiccup has a magic with dragons, that he can calm even the angriest dragon and befriend them. But they wanted proof, so he wanted to catch a very big and fierce dragon for Hiccup to calm in front of everyone, so they would see it was true. That's why we came here* the black dragon explained.

Torch blinked. *They caught me because I'm big and fierce? Yes! Yes, I am!* he gloated, raising his jaw smugly. Toothless resisted the urge to roll his eyes. _No, you're a giant flaming squirrel._

*What will your human do now?* Torch’s sister, Fire Swirl, asked curiously.

*If I know Hiccup – and I do – he’ll try and get you and the human Alpha to apologise to each other, your Majesty.*

*Me?* she snorted, dismissive. *Why should I apologise?*

*For telling your subjects to attack his nest. Trust me, it'll be easier if you just go with it. My other half might seem odd, but he's clever, and he's very persuasive* Toothless explained, with a sigh that was part fondness, part exasperation, and all love.

He shook himself and looked back up at Torch. *Speaking of apologies, I want one from you* he insisted, setting his shoulders and paws determinedly.

The much bigger but far younger dragon shied back and whined, *What for?!*

*You know what! You drove me crazy when we first found you, on purpose, and you never said sorry. And don't go whimpering to Hiccup; I told him everything, and he's seen my memories too.”

Torch lowered his head until their snouts were almost touching and growled stubbornly. *I just saved your life!*

*And I'm grateful* Toothless replied calmly, not backing down, *but I still want an apology.*

Torch grumbled. *Fine. I'm sorry. Are you happy now?*

 _It's better than nothing._ *Yes, I am. Thank you, Torch.*

Flame Swirl looked up and declared, *Your human is coming back.*

Toothless spun around and scampered up to Hiccup, who smiled and stroked him and asked, “Everything alright?”

The dragon purred agreeably and nodded, more for the other human’s sakes. They came over to the four Typhoomerangs, and Hiccup led Ragnar to Flare Twirl. *Your majesty, this is Ragnar, the alpha of the human pack. He's here to apologise* he explained, before nodding to the chief.

Ragnar cleared his throat and tried not to feel foolish as he said, “Your majesty, I am sorry my men captured your son. We were going to let him go, but I now see that it was wrong to trap him in the first place.”

He glanced over at Hiccup, who nodded encouragingly and motioned for him to continue. “I now know that my people drove yours away from this bay when we first settled here. I won't apologise for that” Ragnar said resolutely, “We Vikings must find places to live as well…but if you are willing to make peace and share this land, then so am I, for the good of my tribe.”

Flare Twirl was amazed; she didn't think it was possible, but the human – Hiccup – really had made the human’s alpha come and apologise. It would be lesser of her to not accept it. She bowed her head in acknowledgement and apology, such a clear signal that even he recognised it as such.

*Tell this…Ragnar that I am sorry also for attacking his nest, and as for sharing this land with the humans…I'll think about it* she decided. With that, Flare Twirl backed away and spread her wings. She leapt into the air and spiralled up, showering sparks. Fire Swirl followed suit, then Spark Spin.

Finally, Torch lowered his head to say goodbye to Hiccup, who smiled and petted his snout. *See you around, Torch* he smiled. Torch purred at him, backed away and took off, following the rest of his family. _Maybe he's not so bad_ thought Toothless.

Eret clapped his hands together. “Well, I think that went pretty well, all things considered” he announced cheerfully.

“Indeed, better than I expected” Ormar agreed. “I have to say, I can almost understand where all these rumours of you being part dragon or some such nonsense are coming from. Why…it’s almost as if you have the blood of one” he remarked.

Hiccup gave him an odd look. “Soul of one, maybe” he responded, before suggesting, “Shall we go back?”


	3. Part Three

Later, after they'd both cleaned themselves up and Hiccup had put ice on Toothless sprained wing joint to soothe the painful hot aching, he and his dragon went back to the ring. Eret and his crew’s dragons had lifted away the chain netting above it, to let Torch escape, and the remainder hung limply down the sides.

Ragnar and his fellow chieftains had been persuaded to come into the ring with Hiccup and Toothless, if only so that he didn't have to strain his voice to speak to them. Without the metal chains between them and the ring, the rest of the Smoking Bay tribe didn't seem as eager to watch.

“Well then, Hiccup Haddock,” Ragnar announced, as he and the other chieftains formed a semi-circle before the pair, “You are the first outsider we have ever invited to an Althing, and the first to request it be held out of doors. What say you to that?”

“I'm honoured” Hiccup answered respectfully, before getting back on topic. “Shall we get started, then?”

“Aye! I've told these men of the dragon you had me parley with. When you told me the beasts knew our tongue, I had to say I didn't believe you until that one you called a Queen bowed her head to me. Am I sure you didn't teach her to do that?” Ragnar asked, with only a little suspicion in his voice.

“I promise I didn't.”

“Do you really expect us to believe this?” a familiarly scornful voice demanded. Hiccup turned to see the brown haired, arrogant looking chieftain looking at him and biting back a sneer. “Dragons understanding what we say, I've never heard of anything so insane. Who here agrees?”

There were many loud murmurs of agreement; a few of the men didn't agree, but they didn't disagree either. “Silence!” Ragnar thundered, before glaring at the speaker. “If you're calling him a liar, then you're calling me one too, Darius” he accused, and the man scowled, but didn't protest.

“I can prove it” Hiccup insisted, turning to face his dragon. “Toothless!” he called, and the Night Fury’s attention was instantly fixed on him.

“Toothless, can you understand what I'm saying to you?”

The dragon nodded his head up and down in a clear ‘yes’.

“Do you know where we are?”

Another nod. Hiccup asked, “Are we in Lapland?” 

Toothless shook his head. Then Hiccup asked, “Are we in Iceland?”

This time, a nod again. The chieftains and the onlookers alike muttered to one another. Hiccup's confidence grew a little, until Darius protested, “This is obviously a trick. You’re giving the dragon signs to tell it when to nod and shake its head. I've seen it done with horses.”  

“His head” Hiccup corrected automatically, “and you're welcome to ask him a question yourself; uh, yes or no questions only, please. He can't really answer you otherwise.”

“I shall” Darius decided. He looked at Toothless and barked imperiously, “Pay attention, dragon!”

Toothless did the exact opposite just to make a point, yawning nice and wide to display his fangs and looking away. Darius looked indignant at being ignored; the other chieftains either looked affronted on his behalf, if they were on good terms with Darius, or pleased and trying not to show it, if they weren't.

Hiccup shrugged, although inside he was just as rankled on Toothless’ behalf. “Yeah…he doesn't really like just being called ‘dragon’, like that. I mean, he is a dragon, but it's just not special, you know? C’mon, bud” he cajoled, “Play along just for now, okay?”

Toothless huffed. *You owe me for this* he glared warningly, half-jokingly at Hiccup. Then, dragging his paws and playing at reluctance, he faced Darius and fixed the man with a look that could best be described as, _well?_

“Do you know what we call you, dragon?” Darius questioned, ignoring entirely what Hiccup had just said about the generic term. Toothless’ dislike for the man grew a little bit more. _How would you like it if someone only called you ‘human’, human?!_

But he had to play along, so they would believe, and he nodded.

Then of course the annoying human had to go and ask a question he couldn't easily answer. “What do we call you?”

“Hey! I just said, yes or no questions _only_ ” Hiccup protested, but Toothless held a wing out to cut him off. He didn't like this Darius but he knew a challenge when he heard one, and he would do his best to meet it. So he licked at his lips, stretching his tongue, and tried to say ‘Night Fury’ like a human, aloud.

The closest he could get was a short low yowl and a high shriek, and there was another sound that he knew but could not make with his mouth the way he could with his mind. He felt Hiccup’s eyes on him full of amazement and felt their bond pulse with _pride;_ Toothless purred _gratitude_ and _love_ back to him.

It did not matter if his calls sounded like ‘Night Fury’ or not; his other half was proud of him for trying, for being so clever, and that was what mattered most. Then another chief asked, “Are you a Night Fury?”

Toothless nodded, more enthusiastically than before. The murmuring grew louder. The man who had just asked him a question said wonderingly, “It really is as if he can understand.”

“But surely he's just hearing your tone of voice?” a more doubtful chieftain suggested.

“Toothless’ hearing is excellent” Hiccup agreed, “and he can easily pick up on the change in pitch that means a question…but even then, he'd still need to know whether to nod or shake his head in answer. If he was guessing or doing it at random, he'd have gotten a question wrong, and so far, he hasn't. The only time he wasn't able to answer properly was when Darius asked him a question he had no clear signal for…but you still tried anyway, cos you're a _clever_ dragon” he cooed at Toothless.

“So, what, if wild dragons raid us, we should just ask them if they want our food and wait for them to nod?” Darius asked sarcastically. Hiccup was tempted to ignore him.

“Wild dragons don't nod!” another chief protested, “…do they?”  

"Well, sort of” Hiccup shrugged, “The gestures that mean ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to us mean different things to dragons. Shaking their heads is an invitation to play, and nodding – well, bobbing their heads is a greeting. A handshake, for creatures who don't have hands. They can be taught to do it our way, however.

“But if you want proof it isn't the questioning tone he's listening for…” Hiccup pulled a strip of red cloth from beneath his armour, and held it out to his dragon. “Toothless, c’mere.”

The dragon didn't know exactly what Hiccup was planning, but he allowed his rider to blindfold him, trusting his other half unconditionally. Hiccup had the nearest man confirm that the blindfold was secure and hiding everything from Toothless’ sight. Then he asked everyone to be quiet, and directed Toothless to walk around the perimeter of the open ring, with nothing to guide him but Hiccup’s commands.

It was unsettling, to walk in perfect darkness and not search with echoes as he normally would, but Toothless made it all the way around back to Hiccup, who pulled the cloth away and rewarded him with some herring that had been left in a barrel nearby, along with lots of secret praise.

“I've seen enough” Ragnar decided, “I can’t say I believe that all dragons understand us, but I can't deny that your Night Fury seems to.”

Hiccup looked up from where he was petting Toothless. “I can ask Eret and his crew to demonstrate this with their dragons, so you can see it's not just him” he suggested. Ragnar considered this, and then nodded in agreement.

“But if they can understand us, why don't they act like it?” one of the chieftains inquired.

“Well, just because dragons can understand what we’re saying, it doesn't mean they're always going to listen. They probably don't see the point – after all, _we_ can't understand _them_ ” Hiccup pointed out. _Well, with a few exceptions, of course_ he thought to himself.

“Indeed. Yet if I didn't know any better, I'd almost think _you_ could understand them, Hiccup Haddock” Ormar remarked casually…a bit too casually. Hiccup and Toothless gave him odd looks, both made a little bit uneasy. Did Ormar know about…?

“Yeah, it might seem like that” he said vaguely. “It's not really…I mean, I understand their body language, if that's what you meant?” He didn't know why he'd made that a question.

“Not entirely. The way you calmed the Typhoomerang in the ring without a word, and tamed those three wild ones. I don't know how you do it; I don't suppose you can let us in on the secret?” he asked, tentative and hopeful.

“Uh…no – I mean, uh, there's no secret. I just have a…a way with dragons. They like me, for some reason, but anyone can learn to befriend and live alongside dragons peacefully.”

Ormar smiled apologetically. “Of course. I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. Please, Hiccup, continue” he invited, gesturing for the man to keep talking.

Hiccup blinked again and shook his head. “Right, yes! So, uh, I guess the best place to start is with how to earn the trust of a wild dragon so they don't try to kill you…”

* * *

Before he could begin explaining, however, they heard shouts beyond the ring, and the _whistle-crack_ of stones flying through the air and striking targets, followed by dragonish shrieks. “Something's wrong” Hiccup murmured unnecessarily – he ran, and Toothless followed, with Ragnar and his fellow chieftains not far behind.

They emerged from the ring to find warriors loyal to their chief, as well as Eret and his crew and their growling dragons, facing off against some of the townspeople. Toothless instantly recognised the ones in the front as those who had been trying to drive them away when they first arrived, and bristled, biting back a snarl.

“ _Shut up, all of you!_ ” Ragnar shouted at the top of his lungs. The crowd quieted, but only so much that the next person to yell could be heard clearly.

“We want these madmen and their pet freaks off our island!”

“Silence! Hiccup Haddock and the rest of the dragon riders are here at my invitation, and they will not be sent away any time soon. That is final!” Ragnar declared firmly. Rather than settling the matter, however, it only fired the ‘human purists’ up more.

“Don't you see what they're doing, chief?” the man who seemed to be the ringleader demanded. He pointed an accusing finger at Hiccup and declared, “This… _Dragon Whisperer_ has you under his thrall! If he wants to put _his_ people under the tyranny of dragons, then so be it, but why are you letting him do it to us?!” There were shouts of agreement from his supporters.

“How stupid are you lot?” Eret retorted, incredulous. “Hiccup isn't a tyrant - he's not trying to take over your lives, he's trying to help make them _better._ You're all just too stubborn to”-

“Better?!” a woman shrieked, “You think it would be _better_ for us, to have dragons everywhere, eating all our food, burning our homes to make ‘nests’, their horrid fangs and claws so close to our children?! I don't want _my_ children anywhere near them!”

"Look, lady, your kids are your problem” – 

The arguments began anew, and a few fights started breaking out. At his command, Ragnar’s warriors went into the fray to break it up – then a roar rang out. A couple of people screamed, then all was silent, and all eyes were on Toothless and Hiccup.

Hiccup waited a few moments more, and then cleared his throat. “Alright, everybody, just _calm down._ Eret, I appreciate you trying to help, but…you're not. I know you're frustrated, but throwing insults back at them isn’t going to solve anything.”

Eret had the decency to look chastened, and Sky Fire lowered his heavy head submissively. “Sorry, boss”/*Sorry, Alpha-Hiccup* they both apologised.

Hiccup nodded, and then turned to the distrusting, resentful faces of the naysayers. “As for you guys…I don't know what you've heard about me, or if you just don't like dragons in general…and you know, if you don't like dragons, that's…that's fine. I know not everyone is going to agree with me.”

He looked first at the leader of the group. “I'm not trying to help dragons take over your lives; but making peace with our dragons and learning to live with them, was the best decision my people ever made. I just want to spread that peace” he explained. The man glared at him suspiciously, but said nothing.

Then he turned to the woman who had been arguing with Eret. “I'm not gonna lie and pretend that living with dragons is easy, cos it isn't. But nothing worth doing is – and it isn't _as_ hard as it might seem. It turns out, dragons can last a lot longer without food, without starving, than we can; and you guys wouldn't even have to give them your food! They can find their own.

“And they're not gonna burn down houses to make nests; dragons nest in caves, not in the ruins of human buildings. The worst you'd have to deal with is them, y’know, marking their territory in slightly inconvenient places” he explained, trying not to seem too awkward about it. A few people pulled faces when they realised what he meant, and he was sure he heard some muffled sniggers.

“As for having them near your children…I’m a father, I know how you feel. My daughter is four years old, and in all that time, the dragons of our pack have _never_ deliberately hurt her. There's barely been any accidents, either – again, I'm not gonna lie and say there were none, but that's all they were, _accidents._

 _“_ Yes, the dragons have sharp teeth and claws, they can't help that, but they're far more careful, _especially_ around little ones, than people think. If you make peace with the dragons around here, they'll come to see you – all of you – as part of their pack, and packs stick together. They’d protect your children just as much as their own hatchlings. My wife and I know that if we left our little girl alone with the dragons, she would be completely safe” he declared confidently.

The woman still looked doubtful. Well, if they needed convincing… “Can I have a volunteer?” he asked boldly. * _You don't mind being petted by a complete stranger, do you?*_ he asked Toothless.

* _Why didn't you ask me that first?*_

A voice piped up from the crowd. “I'll do it!” It turned out to belong to a teenage boy with long blond and rather damp hair. He was accompanied by a gaggle of other teens of varying ages, mostly boys and a few of their girlfriends. At the sight of him, Ragnar scowled and crossly demanded, “Where in Odin’s name have you been?”

The boy shrugged. “At the lagoon, like usual? Oh, hey, you must be the dragon guy!” he grinned at Hiccup, holding a hand to shake. “Name’s Mikel, call me Mik.”

Hiccup grinned back. He was about to respond, but Ragnar interrupted him.

“Mikel! Show our honoured guest some respect” he snapped.

Mik blinked. “But dad, I don't know how to formally greet…uh…what's your title?” he asked Hiccup.

“Eh, titles aren't really my thing. My name’s Hiccup. How would you like to pet a Night Fury?”

The crowd gasped. Hiccup had to resist the urge to roll his eyes; he knew Night Furies had a fearsome reputation, and for good reason, but Toothless was standing _right there_ and clearly not being aggressive…but, he thought, trying to be fair, _none of them know him like I do._ He stepped aside to show his dragon standing behind him, looking as docile and harmless as possible.

Mik’s eyes widened, in amazement rather than fear. “ _No way_. Guys, are you seeing this?” he asked over his shoulder; his friends cheered and egged him on. “What's his name?”

“Toothless – and before you ask, it’s because he has retractable teeth” Hiccup explained, before adding, “Trust me, okay?”

“Uh, sure…”

“Toothless, pretend you're a wild dragon who just got startled by a human.”

Huffing in mock-exasperation, Toothless looked at nothing in particular for a moment, then pretended to ‘notice’ Mikel, started, and growled. Mikel jumped a bit, and then ‘exclaimed’, “Oh, no! A wild dragon! Help!”

 _He's worse at acting than I am_. Hiccup was liking this guy more and more. He stepped back and addressed the crowd at large. “Crash course! What to do when faced with a wild dragon. One, don't stare at them. Two, stay very still. Three, calmly repeat the words ‘no threat’ a few times” he explained, hoping Mik would get the hint and play along.

For a second the teen just stared blankly – then it clicked, and he said in a sing-song, baby talk kind of way, “No threat. No threat. Niiice dragon. No threat…” Toothless abandoned his posturing to give Mik a thoroughly unimpressed glare through hooded eyes. *I am not a hatchling* he insisted, despite not being understood, but he hoped his expression conveyed his feelings.

Hiccup suppressed a grin at his dragon’s look of indignation. “At this point they'll either ignore you and fly away, or come closer to investigate” he informed the townspeople, whom he suspected were only being quiet because they were too bewildered to do otherwise.

Toothless caught on much faster than Mikel, and dropped the glare of disdain to edge towards him, nose twitching, pupils wide. Mik froze, looking genuinely nervous for the first time since he'd volunteered. “It's alright, Mik” Hiccup encouraged him, “just look away, and hold your hand out.”

“Look…but how am I meant to know if he's about to bite me?!”

“He won't. Trust me. Trust _him_. Just do this.”

All eyes were on Mik and Toothless. Silence reigned. Everyone – protesters, dragons, riders, chieftains, townsfolk - were trapped in a strange, tense limbo. Finally, Mik screwed his eyes shut, and tentatively held a hand out towards the dragon. The crowd gasped, drawing in a collective breath.

Toothless sniffed at his fingers, and then moved closer to press his snout into the teen’s palm. Mik’s eyes opened in shock – the gaggle of friends and hangers on who’d accompanied him let out muted cheers. A few of them applauded. “See?” Hiccup said to Mik, who was standing there looking kind of dumbstruck. “It's not so hard to befriend a dragon.”

Mik started to grin. “So cool…” he murmured, petting the Night Fury. It's scales were really smooth, and it was warm…he'd sort of figured it might be, they did breathe fire after all, but that wasn't the point, the point was he was _petting a Night Fury!_

“Scratch under his chin, he loves that” Hiccup suggested, just before another protester – the leader – exclaimed, “Don't think we’ll fall for this, dragon lover!”

“Fall for _what_?” Eret asked incredulously. “What do you think he's trying to do here? Did you even listen to a word he said?”

“Oh, we heard him alright! Making himself out a peacemaker, showing off his tame beast and trying to tell us that dragons won't be even _more_ of a nuisance living amongst us. They don't belong here! This is a town, it's _our_ town, and we don't need another outsider coming here and telling us what to do.”

The crowd shifted restlessly, and there were cries of agreement from the other protesters. “Wait, _another_ outsider?” Mikel frowned, “Are you talking about whatshisname – the guy with the wolf who showed up last year?”

The man ignored Mik and turned instead to his father. “Chief, with all due respect, the last time you listened to an outsider, we were drawn into a pointless war” he declared, “and now you turn to counsel from another outsider, the very man that Adulfr Haukeson rallied us against in the first place!”

Ragnar looked furious. “That's enough, Isak! You've said your piece. Now listen to me, all of you!” he commanded, “I've seen with my own eyes how Vikings and dragons can live side by side, no different to our hunting dogs. Whether you like it or not, there may well be dragons living amongst us someday soon. So I suggest you learn what you can from the Dragon Whisperer whilst he's here, and I'll hear not another word of protest!”

Isak scowled. The crowd started to disperse, many of them shooting Hiccup and the other riders’ dirty looks. Mik’s friends hung about, and one of them asked, “So can we have a go?”

* * *

The Althing became somewhat derailed after that. The chieftains retreated to consider what they had seen and heard; Mik and his friends gathered around to pet dragons and ask a thousand questions. When the young heir discovered that they'd been there almost the whole day and not been in the hot pools, he practically dragged Hiccup towards them by the crook of his arm. To be fair, it was relaxing, and Hiccup could almost forget about what Isak had said.

That evening, Ragnar threw a feast for the visiting chieftains, and invited Hiccup and his allies as guests of honour. After dinner, they sat outside with mead, “For after all, ‘tis such a glorious evening!”, with the Northern Lights flickering and swaying through the air above.

Tinni and Uggi greeted and talked with the chieftain of their own tribe, trading news. Jorge, Noam and Òskar started singing raucous seafaring ballads, in not even close to harmony, and all the dragons near them fled except for Noam’s Rock-Tail, Limestone, who happily gurgled accompaniment. Aksel chatted with Mik and his gang, Alfgautr arm-wrestled with various men, and Safira fended off advances by joining the contests and almost breaking wrists.  

It was Eret who first noticed something was wrong. “Hey, boss, what’s up?”

“The opposite of down.”

“Ha, ha” Eret deadpanned, “Seriously, though. Is this about those jerks at the ring earlier?”

Hiccup sighed. “Eret…do you think we’re doing the right thing?” he asked, “If people don't want things to change, who am I to say they have to?”

Eret groaned. “ _Hiccup._ You can't let them get to you, that's exactly what they want. Nobody likes change, but it happens whether we want it to or not. Some people just need a good sharp kick in the pants” he declared with feeling.

Hiccup's mouth twitched into a smirk. “Why do I get the feeling you're not speaking metaphorically?”

“Point is, people don't know what's good for them. I never would have met Sky Fire if it wasn't for you, and that's one of the best things that's ever happened to me” Eret smiled, as the Nadder affectionately nuzzled his shoulder. He scratched under his dragons chin in response.

Now it was Hiccup’s turn to sigh. “I'm just getting sick of people comparing me to my enemies” he confessed. “First it was Drago, now Adulfr…I just don't understand it. _They_ called for war and I'm calling for peace, so how am I the enemy here?”

*Because they are egg-for-brains* Toothless announced bluntly. Hiccup snorted in amusement.

“What?”

He quietly told Eret what his dragon had said. “Yeah, well, he's right. And you'd be an egg-for-brain if you took that lot seriously. It's them who're in the wrong, Hiccup, not you” Eret assured him. Hiccup smiled gratefully at the older man.

“Thanks, Eret.”

“No problem, boss.”

* * *

That night, as they were settling down in their lodgings, Toothless announced, *Something is still bothering you.*

Hiccup didn't bother to deny it. *Do you think Ormar knows about the heart bind?* he asked.

*Do you?*

*I think he knows something - or suspects something. All the comments he's been making; how he's heard rumours of blood magic, he asked if I could understand dragons, he even said it was as if I had the blood of a dragon. Doesn't that seem kind of suspicious to you?*

The black dragon hummed thoughtfully. *You could try asking him what he knows* he suggested, *that seems like a good place to start. He might not know as much as you think.*

*What if he does?*

*Why would it matter?*

Hiccup blinked…to his surprise, he had trouble coming up with a good answer. *The fewer people know about the heart bind, the better…right?*

Toothless stared at him in sheer disbelief. *Hiccup, _everyone on Berk_ knows that we’re heart bound. Eret and his crew know that we’re heart bound. Rumours about it have spread all over the archipelago and beyond by now. It's not exactly a secret. The only part we haven't told most people is… _that we’d die together*_ he pointed out, slipping into their direct mental link.

All this was true. *What do you think we should do?*

Toothless hummed thoughtfully, stretching as much as he could. What was it with humans and sleeping in such small spaces? *I think you should talk to Ormar in the morning. Tell him the truth – not all of it, but what you can. I think you should let him and Ragnar hear thought-speak…things will be much easier if they and Flare Twirl can talk to each other properly.*

*Are you sure about this?*

*Not a bit, but whatever happens, we have each other. Besides, aren't rumours and misunderstandings and all that sort of thing the reason the whole mess with Adulfr started?*

Hiccup sighed, and smiled. *You’re right. I don't know what I'd do without you. Thanks, bud* he said gratefully, resting his head against the dragons flank and yawning, *Goodnight.*

*Goodnight, Hiccup.*

* * *

The following morning dawned crisp and clear…Hiccup and Toothless were woken what felt like far too early by a knocking on the door. Reluctantly, Hiccup crawled out from beneath his dragon’s wing, straightened his clothes and attempted, futilely, to flatten his hair. Deeming himself at least somewhat presentable, he fought back a huge yawn and opened the door.

The messenger on the other side explained, “Sorry, sir, but Chief Ragnar asks you to come outside as soon as you can. There's been an…incident.” The solemn way he said it told Hiccup that whatever was going on, it was not good. He washed his arms and face in a basin, changed into a fresh tunic, and put his armour on. He hooked _Inferno_ to his belt and they emerged from their room, heading out to the courtyard.

When they emerged, it was to find an angry mob waiting for them, which wasn't exactly how they had planned to start the day. Ragnar was standing at the front of the crowd, his warriors between them and the dragon riders. Hiccup wasn't sure if that made him feel more nervous, or less. “Is something wrong?”

Chief Ragnar was not one to beat around the bush. “There was a dragon attack last night” he announced.

“What?!”

It was then that Eret emerged, looking just as dishevelled as Hiccup felt. “What's going on?” he asked, frowning.

“As I said, an attack. The nearest smokehouse were raided last night, as were the docks” – Ragnar’s explanation was cut short when Eret asked incredulously, “And you waited till now to tell us? By Tiermes, we would have _helped_ if you'd”-

“They were silent” Ragnar snapped, looking none too happy at the interruption, “whatever sort it was, the dragon was sneaky. We only discovered the damage ourselves an hour or so ago.”

Hiccup was immediately suspicious. “Show us” he commanded; Ragnar stared at him a moment, and then nodded.

“This way” he announced, beckoning. Hiccup vaulted onto Toothless’ back and the Night Fury followed the chief at a swift trot. Both of them held their heads high and ignored the stares, accusing more often than not, that came their way. As the rest of Eret’s crew came shambling out, he told them to saddle up and follow him at once.

The storehouse door was hanging off its hinges. Inside, the place was ransacked. Barrels of salted fish had been broken open, their contents devoured completely; hooks on the ceiling marked where strings of curing meat and fish had been torn down, the remnants now scattered upon the floor. The only thing that hadn't been touched were the barrels of eels.

“It's terrible” Ormar lamented. “Everything gone, and it will take us months to restock all the food we've lost. Thank Freyr it is still spring, there may yet be time…”

Ragnar rounded on Hiccup and said accusingly, “Haddock, you told me the dragons and their Queen could be trusted, that they wouldn't raid us – and now this!”

Hiccup squared his shoulders, refusing to be cowed by the larger man. At his brother’s side, Toothless spread his wings as far as they could go – it was a little easier this morning – in solidarity. “Why are you so sure that a dragon did this?”

Ragnar stared at him in disbelief, and waved a meaty hand at the destruction in the storehouse. “Can you not see? Claw marks in the floor, teeth marks in the ropes – everything eaten but the eels, which you said yourself dragons hate – it’s right in front of you, man!”

Hiccup frowned. “None of that is proof it was an actual _dragon_ ” he insisted. “Someone is framing them - I've seen this before, in my own village, years ago. And I have a pretty good idea what their motive is, too” he added meaningfully.

Isak demanded, voice thick with righteous indignation, “You accuse us of sabotage, outsider? Of treachery?”

"He has a point” Eret came to Hiccup’s defence at once, “If anyone would have a reason to frame the dragons, it'd be you lot. And would you quit calling him ‘outsider’? He has a name, you know.”

“ _Thank you,_ Eret” said Hiccup, giving the older man a pointed glare. He stood on Toothless’ back to be seen better and called out, “Did anyone actually _see_ a dragon break in here?”

The crowd shifted and muttered amongst themselves, and Hiccup felt vindicated for a moment before an elderly voice croaked out, “I did. I saw it, right before it sent me flying into th’ wall”. A grizzled warrior with a wooden stump in place of his right leg, and a bandage wrapped around his head, limped out of the crowd.

He spat on the floor and introduced himself. “Nikolas Nilsson. That there is my storehouse, it's been in me family for generations. I was inside stoking up the embers, when I heard something growl outside the door. So I went to investigate, and I pulled it open to find a dragon outside, looming over me, and I couldn't even cry out before it knocked me with its head and sent me flying. I'm lucky I wasn't burned to a crisp!”

The crowd muttered restlessly. Hiccup frowned. “Alright, so if it was a dragon, and to me that's a big ‘if’, what kind of dragon was it?” he questioned.

“Well, I didn't get a _good_ look at it” Nikolas huffed, “It was dark, and the beast attacked me. But it was huge, with a long sort of snout, and big fangs, and bulging yellow eyes…”

“Sounds like a Monstrous Nightmare to me” Isak said smugly, “and isn't it odd that this storehouse was raided, and so was the catch at the docks down there” he said, pointing down the path towards the harbour, “and you and your dragon riders were staying right up there” he finished.

There were cries of protest from the rest of Eret’s crew. “Do you have any proof? Cos all I'm hearing is a load of hot air” said Eret. “Our dragons are trained. They wouldn't do something like this, and anyway, they've been in the stables all night.”

“All of them?” Isak challenged him, “what about him?” He pointed at Aksel, and remarked, “He rides a Monstrous Nightmare, as I recall, but I don't see one here.”

All eyes turned to Aksel, who had come with Safira on her Nadder because his own dragon hadn't been there. “Okay, yeah, Cinder flew off last night” he admitted, “but that doesn't mean she raided your storehouse! She's a good dragon. Eret, Hiccup, you've got to believe me” the young man begged, looking between his captain and his captain’s boss worriedly.

“At ease, Aksel, we do believe you” Eret assured him. He looked relieved for a moment, and then the worry returned.

“Could one of you give me a hand looking for her? I thought she'd be back by” –

He was cut off by the sound of wingbeats and a shadow falling over the crowd. Everyone looked up, shielding their eyes against the early morning sun, as a honey coloured Fire-Scale with red-orange markings flew down to land near the other dragons. “Cinder!” Aksel cried in delight, rushing over to greet his dragon. She purred at him, her long forked tongue darting out to lick his face, and he laughed.

“Aww, I missed you too! Where've you been? Oh, Cin, you've got a bit of fish stuck…” Aksel trailed off, and dropped the hand that had been reaching up to pick out the fishtail skewered haphazardly on one of Cinder’s fangs. Puzzled, he stepped back and asked, “Hey, girl, where did you go last night?”

The drakaina looked from her rider to the crowd, to the ruined storehouse door, and let out a worried whine. *What’s going on?* she asked nervously, *Alphas, am I in trouble?*

*What were you doing last night, Cinder?* Toothless asked her, but before she could answer, the crowd was right off jumping to conclusions and making things so much worse. _Humans._

“It was that one!” Nikolas cried, “I'm sure of it. That's the beast that attacked me last night!”

*I didn't attack him!* Cinder protested, *He-*

“I saw a Monstrous Nightmare flying towards the docks last night! I know I did!”

“Stop calling her that! She's not Monstrous at all, they're called _Fire-Scales_ now!”

“I saw it too!”

“It landed here! It came down to land right here!”

“You're all being ridiculous!”

“Are you calling me a liar?!”

“No, I'm calling you an”-

“Silence!” Ragnar boomed at the top of his lungs, and a hush fell over the crowd. “We have no time to waste bickering about what really happened last night – but rest assured, I _will_ find out, and if I find out that this _was_ sabotage, that there _is_ treachery afoot, whoever is responsible had better pray I never find them, because no force on this world will stop me from bringing justice upon them” he warned.

Everyone glanced at each other uneasily. “And if it isn't treachery?” demanded Isak, “Will you stay your hand then, if he asks you to?” he accused, nodding at Hiccup.

“No, Isak. If it is the dragons then they will be punished too, and _you_ are not going to stop me defending my people, Dragon Whisperer” Ragnar warned Hiccup. The Berkian said nothing; he would intervene, if Ragnar tried to hurt the dragon – if it was a dragon. All of Hiccup’s instincts were saying _trick,_ and he was determined to prove it.

Ormar stepped forwards and announced, “With all due respect, chief, I think we should hear what Hiccup has to say about all this. He may yet have some advice to give us.”

The chief nodded. “Aye. Let's hear your advice, Dragon Whisperer, and we’ll talk about your accusations later” he declared, with a pointed look.

Hiccup rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and inquired, “Are there barrels of eels in all the storehouses? The ones with fish in them, at least?”

“Most, yes. Why?”

“Place a barrel of eel at each corner of the storehouses, and one in front of the door if you can. _If_ it's a dragon behind this, then the scent will drive them away” Hiccup instructed first. Ragnar nodded, seeing the sense, and motioned for some men to carry out the task.

“Eret, you and your crew go out fishing, bring in as much as you can. We can't replace the meat, but you can make a start on the herring and cod” he pointed out. Eret saluted and mounted up; the other riders followed suit, and they took off towards the open sea.

Finally, Hiccup turned to Ormar. “Could I talk to you in private, please? It's important” he insisted.

Ormar replied, “Yes, of course. Did you mean right now?”

“Yes, if possible” Hiccup nodded. * _I hope you're right about telling him_ * he said to Toothless as they followed Ormar back towards the lodgings.

* _So am I.*_

This was really not how they had planned to start their day.


	4. Part Four

Hiccup, Toothless and Aksel were searching the storehouse for clues. It might have _looked_ like a dragon had been there, but things weren't always as they seemed. For one thing… “No spit” Hiccup muttered.

“What?”

“There’s no spit, on the ropes, where the food’s been torn away. See? It's dry” Hiccup explained. Aksel came over and rubbed the frayed rope between his fingers; Toothless sniffed at it a bit.

“Huh. And there should be, if a hungry dragon had taken the food. Right?”

“Exactly” Hiccup nodded, moving away to study a nearby set of claw marks. They didn't seem deep enough to be from a real Fire-Scale, in his opinion, nor smooth enough. The edges were too jagged…

“Hiccup?”

“Yeah?”

“Cinder didn't do this” the other man said resolutely. “I know my dragon, and she would never steal food.”

Hiccup smiled reassuringly at him, and came over to place a hand on his shoulder. “I know, Aksel. Cinder is a good dragon, and I'm sure she's innocent; but she _was_ out last night and I still need to ask her about it. She might have seen something” he explained, assuming that his friend was wondering why he and his dragon had had to stay behind. Sure enough, Aksel looked somewhat relieved as he nodded in understanding. Hiccup clapped him lightly on the shoulder and moved away again.

*Over here* Toothless called him over to the door. The dragon gestured with his snout at some dark spots spattered on the floor, and explained, *It’s blood. Human blood.*

Frowning curiously, Hiccup reached out and lightly touched the stain. Aksel, who had followed him, peered over his shoulder. “This must be from Nikolas” he realised, “Except…” His frown deepened. “Hey, Aksel? Does anything about this bloodstain look off to you?”

“Uh, should it?”

"Well, think about it. Nikolas said a dragon had knocked him aside, knocked him out, but the stains are right in front of the door. If a dragon had knocked him to one side, and he'd hit his head, then the stains ought to be on that wall there, and the floor below it – and look” he said, noticing something else. It was hard to see in the gloom, so he silently asked Toothless for some light. In the glow of the Night Fury’s flame, the two men peered at a small, blood covered floorboard nail, slightly upturned.

Hiccup poked it gingerly with his finger and frowned. “It's not really sharp, but you could cut yourself on that, if you stepped on it…or fell on it, for that matter” he mused. It was a clue, and a good one, that Nikolas’ story hadn't been entirely straight.

Aksel caught on quick. “You think he was lying? That he's in on this sabotage?”

“I think he wasn't telling us everything he knows, is what I think. Good job, bud” he praised Toothless, who warbled happily. “Have you picked up any other human scents?”

*Yes, on the floor, and the scratches are covered in metal scent. I can't make anything out clearly, though. The smell of smoke and fish is too strong, it’s making me hungry* he complained. Hiccup reached out and pet him reassuringly.

“What’d he say?”

“That he can barely make out any human scents, they’re getting covered by the smell of the fish and smoke. Also that he's hungry. So am I, come to think of it. You wanna go get breakfast?”

Aksel grinned at the prospect of food. “Definitely. So, uh, what did you want to talk to Ormar about?” he wondered, as they left the storehouse.

“That's private, I'm afraid” Hiccup replied, as Aksel walked over to Cinder and climbed into the saddle. Hiccup mounted up as well and asked, “You wanna race?”

“I thought you guys couldn't fly yet?”

“No, but we can run. Just close your eyes and count to ten.”

“Okay – one, two, thr-hey, wait a minute!” Aksel exclaimed, eyes flicking open, but Toothless and Hiccup were already halfway up the street. “Up, Cinder!”

Given that Cinder could fly, and he could not (which was annoying), Toothless knew they weren't going to win, but it was still fun to race. Besides, sometimes it felt good to lose, if it made a friend happy to win. Hiccup had taught him that.

* * *

During breakfast, Hiccup picked at his food and chewed without really tasting anything; his mind was elsewhere.    _Should I really tell Ormar about the heart bind?_

It was bothering him, nipping at the back of his mind. He trusted Toothless completely, and his other half made a good point when he said that the whole mess with Adulfr and the war had started, in some sense, because of misunderstandings and rumours getting out of hand.

Yet the thought of telling a complete stranger something so personal…no, but he didn't have to tell him _everything._ The most that a lot of people knew was that he could understand dragons, and he left it up to them whether it was a curse or gift from the gods, or some strangeness in himself, or if he was simply lying.

* _What’s wrong? You're not eating_ * Toothless noted, coming over after eating his fill to lay his head in Hiccup’s lap. Hiccup scratched behind his ear-flaps and he purred blissfully, letting his contentment seep through the bond to his other half to relax them both.

* _I’m not that hungry.*_

 _*You need to eat, Hiccup. You're helping my wing heal, and you need your strength. Now eat your food, or I'll share mine_ * he mock-threatened. Toothless had long been of the opinion that his human did not eat enough food, and the quickest way to make him do so was to offer to share his own meals.

Sure enough, Hiccup started eating more of his breakfast. * _I’m just not sure if I should tell Ormar about…you know. That I can understand dragons.*_

_*Don’t tell him, then.*_

_*But you said you think I should.*_

_*Never mind me. If you don't want to tell him, then don't tell him. Simple.*_ Really, why did humans have to make everything so very complicated?

 _*But you're right. Ormar obviously knows_ something, _and I need to know what. Part of me wants to tell him and part of me doesn’t…I'm not making sense, am I?*_

_*What are you afraid of?*_

Hiccup had to think about that for a moment. * _Being betrayed, I suppose*_ he said at last, * _Being taken advantage of. I don't_ think _Ormar would betray us, but…I'll admit I get that wrong about people sometimes_ * he confessed sheepishly.

* _You don't have very good survival instincts*_ Toothless agreed. He thought he understood, though. Hiccup was afraid of what _might_ happen _if_ he told Ormar he could understand dragons, because Ormar was a stranger. So many mights and ifs, and he didn't know how humans got anything done when they were always, always worrying about things that only might happen and not what will.

* _How about this. You show him that dragons can talk and I will tell him that if he threatens us, I'll kill him.*_

Hiccup was torn between exasperation and amusement. * _Overprotective reptile*_ he said teasingly.

* _It’s a good plan.*_

Hiccup made a decision. * _I won't tell him everything. Only that I can understand dragons, but not how. The less he knows, the better. If he asks, I'll explain more, if I can.*_

_*Whatever you think is best.*_

_*Just don't threaten to kill him, please.*_

_*I make no promises.*_

* * *

After breakfast, Hiccup approached the chief’s second-in-command and cleared his throat. “Ormar, could we talk?”

“Oh, yes, of course” the man nodded, remembering. He led them to another room to talk in private, leaving one of the ever-present guards outside. “See that we are not disturbed” he ordered. When the door was closed behind them, he asked “Is something troubling you?”

“No” Hiccup replied automatically, before correcting himself to “Yes. Sort of. I mean…okay, look, Ormar, it's not that I don't trust you, or anything, it's just…I kind of get the feeling you know something about me that you're not letting on. So, err, without beating around the bush or anything…what do you know about me?”

Ormar blinked at him. “Know about you? Only what I’ve been told. You hail from the Northern Archipelago, you are wed to the chief of your tribe, you ended a three hundred year war between your people and local dragons with the aid of this Night Fury you trained, and you are...the one who killed Drago Bludvist in battle, are you not?”  he rattled off.

Most Vikings – indeed, most warriors would feel pride at defeating their enemy. Hiccup only felt uncomfortable at the reminder; not because he felt _guilty,_ Thor forbid, but he just didn’t like the thought of killing in general. “Yes” he admitted, “but it wasn't as impressive as everyone probably thinks.”

Ormar seemed amused. “You are the most modest hero I've ever met, Hiccup Haddock; but I still don't understand what you're asking me. I've heard all the rumours about you, but you've already made it clear that they're false.”

Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Uh…well, I wouldn't say _all_ of them…at least not entirely” he admitted. Ormar raised an eyebrow. Hiccup decided to just be blunt about it. “Listen. You have to swear to secrecy, Ormar. I don't even know for sure if I should be telling you this, but you cannot tell _anyone._ Tell no-one of what we speak about right now. Do you understand?”

"I swear to Heimdall himself that not a word of what you tell me will pass to another's ears through my lips” Ormar swore, before inquiring, “Now tell me, what is this great secret?”

Hiccup took a deep breath. “Yesterday, you said it seemed like I could understand dragons the way I've proven they can understand us…what would you say if I told you...that you're right?” he asked.

Ormar briefly looked surprised, before schooling his features into an expression of interest. “I suspected that you could” he confessed at length, “but I didn't want to ask outright, for fear of being dismissed as a fool, a madman. You did, after all, dismiss all the rumours. So it is true? However did you come to have such a gift?”

Hiccup hesitated. “That I can't tell you, Ormar. It's too dangerous. Still, I suppose you'll want proof?”

“After what I've seen you do, I'm not sure I need it, but very well. Although I don't see how you can”-

“Trust me” Hiccup insisted, stepping closer. “Err, sorry. I kind of have to invade your personal space…you might want to close your eyes” he suggested.

Ormar frowned, but did as he was asked. Hiccup took a deep breath, gathering all his willpower with it, placed a hand on the man’s forehead and the other on his dragon’s forehead. Using himself as a living conduit, he and Toothless pulled Ormar temporarily into the pack web.

It was over in seconds; Ormar jerked away, and Hiccup staggered back, clutching at Toothless for support. *I’ve got you, Hiccup, you're alright* the dragon crooned.

“Thanks, bud” Hiccup smiled, regaining his balance. He rubbed his head and complained, “I wish there was an easier way to do that”, before looking over at Ormar, who was staring at Toothless with slack jawed amazement. “Err, Ormar? Are you okay?”

“Th-the dragon – it spoke!”

“Oh. Yeah. Um…surprise?”

*Hello* Toothless greeted. Ormar gaped at him. He looked over at Hiccup and asked, *Why do you humans always stare like that?*

“Well, a talking dragon isn't something that most people see – hear, rather – every day” Hiccup smiled. He turned to Ormar and inquired, “This proof enough for you?”

“By the thunder of Thor – that is _incredible_. His mouth isn't even…it's as if I can hear his thoughts!” Ormar said wonderingly, looking from Toothless to Hiccup and back.

“Yeah, it’s called thought-speak. Also, uh, it’s kind of rude to talk about him like he's not there…”

“Oh! Yes. I'm sorry…Toothless” Ormar apologised to the dragon, who acknowledged it with a nod.

*It’s fine…but now that you can hear me, there's something I need to tell you* he declared.

“Yes?”

Toothless suddenly advanced on the man, glaring his most menacing glare. *If you turn on us, or betray us, or hurt my rider in any way, I will make sure you regret it for the rest of your very short life* he growled.

"Toothless, stop threatening him. We’re not supposed to be making enemies here, bud” Hiccup said calmly.

*I know. I'm just warning him what will happen if he _does_ become an enemy* Toothless replied just as calmly.

Hiccup sighed. “Sorry, Ormar. He's just being protective.”

“Quite…Toothless, I mean you and your rider no harm. I will not betray you” he told the Night Fury. Toothless could sense that he wasn't lying, so he backed away and returned to Hiccup’s side. Ormar breathed a sigh of relief.

"Remarkable. If people only knew…”

“Oh, believe me, I wish I could show everyone how dragons aren't so different from us” Hiccup admitted, “but this – you hearing them – only lasts a couple of hours, at most, and if I share the gift with too many people I start getting migraines.”

“A pity. This would do much to turn folk’s minds in your favour, if they could comprehend dragons as you do.”

“Tell me about it. Right, now that that's settled, I think we’d better have a talk with Cinder.”

* * *

They found Aksel grooming Cinder in the courtyard behind the lodgings. Ormar watched with interest as the Nightmare…Fire-Scales, Hiccup had said they called themselves – lowered her head in a bow towards Hiccup and Toothless as they approached. *Hello, Alphas* she greeted, before her rider noticed and turned as well.

“Oh, Hiccup, hi. Um…is he supposed to be here?” Aksel asked, glancing at Ormar.

“Yes, uh, Toothless and I brought him into the web” Hiccup admitted, “He can hear thought-speak.”

Aksel’s eyes widened, and Cinder pulled back in surprise. “He what? Boss, are you sure that's a good idea?!”

 _Not entirely_ Hiccup said privately. Aloud he answered, “Don't worry, Aksel. He's been sworn to secrecy, and Toothless has already made it very clear what he'll do if Ormar betrays us” he explained, giving his dragon a pointed look. Toothless purred innocently at him.

“Besides, he has a lot of influence with the chief. If he hears Cinder’s side of the story for himself, he can persuade Ragnar not to blame her or the other dragons for the storehouse theft.”

Aksel still looked doubtful, but he nodded warily. A hopeful look came over his face as he asked, “So, uh, I don't suppose _I_ can…?”

Hiccup sighed, and beckoned him closer. Once he'd brought Aksel into the pack web – and he could already feel a headache coming on – the five of them, three humans and two dragons, faced each other in a loose circle. “Cinder, tell us what you were doing last night.”

Cinder whimpered and cringed a bit, stretching her neck out to expose her throat in submission. *I’m sorry, Alpha-Hiccup. I didn't mean to hurt that human, the food-guarder, it was an accident!*

“The food…you mean Nikolas? So you were near the storehouse last night?”

Aksel looked alarmed. “Oh no, Cinder, you didn't really _steal,_ did you?”

*No!* She snarled a bit in frustration before catching herself, and snorting out a plume of smoke. *I was hungry, so I left the stables to find food. I did land near the smoky fish-cave – but it was only to smell the very good smell, I wasn't going to steal the fish, really!*

Hiccup decided to let it slide. “And then?” he prompted.

*I was going to fly out to sea and catch some fish, but then I heard something scratching and tearing, inside the fish cave. I thought maybe there was a dragon in there, stealing food, so I tried to pull the door open. I…sort of broke it* she admitted with a sheepish whine. Well, that explained the broken door.

*I looked down and there was a human there, a male. I didn't do anything, he just stared at me and I stared at him, and then he fainted! I could smell blood and I tried to help him, but then there were more humans running at me, with sharp blades, so I panicked and flew away. I fell asleep on a sea stack, that’s why I came back late.*

“These other humans, did you see where they went?” Hiccup asked urgently. Cinder shook her head.

*But now we know it _was_ humans in the storehouse last night* Toothless said triumphantly.

“And why the blood from Nikolas’ wound was right in front of the door. So he must be in on this, if he lied.”

“Probably didn't want to admit he'd fainted, the coward. I bet that Isak put him up to this” Aksel declared suspiciously, “he obviously has it out for dragons, the jerk. What's his problem?”

“Not everyone likes dragons” Hiccup reminded him, “and not everyone wants to give them a chance either. Still, sabotage? That's going a bit far.” Hiccup turned to Ormar and asked, “Ragnar isn't bothered by the protests, is he? He doesn't seem that unreasonable.”

“No, this sabotage is more desperate than I'd have thought. As your friend says, it would not surprise me if Isak is behind this, in some way. The man has always tended to act first and ask questions later.”

“I know the type.”

“I don't know him well” Ormar mused, “but I do know that he and his brother, Hafni, were in the army that fought your people at Adulfr’s command. His brother went ashore during one battle and never returned, the others said he’d been killed by a dragon. The thought of living alongside the creatures that killed Hafni must tear at him inside.”

*Are we supposed to feel sorry for him?* Toothless asked incredulously, even as he moved to comfort his other half, sensing a mix of dark emotions rising in him. *We were fighting, our pack was defending our home. Your pack chose to come and challenge ours, it's not our fault – it’s not _Hiccup’s_ fault if our enemies are killed!*

“He's not saying it is” Hiccup defended, “He's just saying that's probably why Isak is being so hostile.” He sighed and leaned against Toothless, running a hand over his face. “We shouldn't have come here. I shouldn't be trying to make this place like Berk; even _we_ took a while to get used to life with dragons, and I can't expect things to change overnight. I…was just trying to help, and instead, I'm making things worse” he said, self-deprecating.

*Stop saying that. You've done nothing wrong.*

“Toothless is right. Come on, boss, you meant well. If these guys don't want to live with dragons, that's one thing, but they're breaking rules just to get their own way. That's not your fault, it's theirs” Aksel insisted. Hiccup smiled gratefully at him. “Besides, now we know it isn't the dragons who stole the food, so we can clear their names” he added.

“Not really. All we have to go on is dry rope, a misplaced bloodstain, and Cinder’s word. Don't get me wrong, Cinder, I believe you” Hiccup reassured her, “but the other humans won't, even if I could let all of them hear thought-speak. Which I can't. No, we need some proof.”

Aksel looked at him expectantly. “Do you have a plan?”

Hiccup’s brow furrowed in thought. After a moment he declared, "I think so. First I want to follow up on a few hunches. Toothless and I are going back to the storehouse; Ormar, if you don't mind coming with us…”

“Not at all” the man agreed. Hiccup turned to Aksel and instructed, “Go find the others, tell them what we know, and that I'll tell you all the plan at lunchtime.” Aksel nodded and climbed into the saddle; he and Cinder took off, leaving Toothless, Hiccup and Ormar to make their way to the storehouse.

* * *

They were escorted to the storehouse by two of Ragnar’s warriors, ‘for their own protection’. The gesture was not unappreciated, but the presence of the chief’s second in command and two burly spear wielders did not do much to discourage the hostile stares and not-so-subtle whispers as they passed by.

“Sorry about the walk” Hiccup said awkwardly, “If Toothless hadn't strained his wing in the crash-landing, he'd just fly us there.”

“I've walked these streets all my life, it doesn't trouble me” Ormar reminded him, “and it isn't all that far.”

“Heh. Once you have a dragon, walking any distance seems too far. Or maybe I've just gotten lazy.”

*You’ve definitely gotten lazy* Toothless teased him.

*And who’s fault is that?* Hiccup retorted.

Ormar did a slight double-take, hearing the other man speak without his mouth moving. This gift he had, to hear the thoughts of dragons and allow others to do the same, was incredible. Ormar was intensely curious about what or whom had given him this gift.

When they arrived at the storehouse, Eret and Sky Fire flew down to meet them. “Hey, boss. Any progress?”

“Yeah, we’ll talk inside” said Hiccup, nodding towards the storehouse, the broken door of which had been removed. He made to walk inside, but a sword blocked his way, startling him. Nikolas was holding the hilt of the sword and scowling at them. “No dragons!” the old man snapped. “I don't care who you are, make those beasts stay _out_ of my storehouse or you're not coming in!”

“Okay, okay” Hiccup held his hands up placatingly, “They'll stay out here, just so long as you don't keep pointing a sword at them.” Nikolas glared at him, then sheathed the weapon and grunted a moody affirmative. Hiccup looked over his shoulder at the dragons and ordered, “Toothless, Sky Fire, wait here.”

As their riders disappeared inside the storehouse, the dragons moved to wait out of the way. Nikolas didn't brandish the blade at them again, but he did squint suspiciously at them. They ignored him. *Alpha-Toothless, one of the scents I picked up outside this wood-cave was Cinder* Sky Fire revealed.

*It’s okay, we know she was down here last night* replied Toothless. He told the Spike-Tail everything they had found out, from Cinder’s tale to the probable reason the human’s ringleader was so against dragons.

* * *

Inside the storehouse, Hiccup was filling Eret in. “We’ve been doing a bit of investigating ourselves” Eret explained, “Sky Fire caught a human scent and we followed it to the docks, but he lost it after that. We flew out to have a look around, but I couldn't see anything. Then again, the tide’s in.”

“How do you know it was a human scent?”

“Well, because I asked him if it was a human scent, and he nodded. Besides, it couldn't have been a dragon. I mean, what kind of dragon steals food from right under human noses and then _walks_ away?”

“Good point” Hiccup nodded, moving over to the wall, in particular a set of ‘claw’ marks. “Toothless said that these scratches smelled a bit of metal.  I wonder…” He pulled the small dagger from its sheath on his arm and set the point to the wood.

He scored a line down the surface alongside the claw marks, that barely looked different to the others. Then he dragged the blade through a piece of rope, shredding it so that it looked just like the ‘chewed’ pieces.

“Fake scratch and bite marks” Eret remarked, grinning, “You're a genius.”

“I just had a hunch” Hiccup shrugged, though he was pleased it had proved fruitful. That would have been embarrassing, if his idea had failed.

“So, you have a plan, I take it?”

“Yes.”

“…You gonna let me in on it, or what?”

“Yeah. At lunchtime, with everyone else. Ormar, can you tell the chief what we’ve learned? Show him the scratch – no, knife marks, if you need to” Hiccup advised the man.

“Yes. I'll do it now. He's probably wondering where in Midgard I've gone off to” Ormar commented, before adding, “Oh, but if you could join us at the Althing-House as soon as you can…I'll have the guards show you and your dragon the way.” With that, he turned on his heel and walked out of the storehouse.

When he was gone, Eret lowered his voice and asked, “Boss, are you sure it was a good idea, telling him about…you know, that?”

“What have I told him? Nothing, really. Only that I can, y’know, h-e-a-r dragons. I haven't told him _how_ it's possible. Besides, Toothless made it quite clear what would happen if he did betray us. If something goes wrong, we can handle it, Eret. Trust me.”

“I do trust you. I just don't know if I trust him.”

“Well, if he does turn on us, you have my full permission to say ‘I told you so’, alright?”

“Deal. So, now what? You do realise Nikolas is gonna be livid if he finds out we're damaging his precious storehouse even more, right?” Eret inquired.

“Yes, I am aware of that.”

“Oh, that's good” Eret said sarcastically, “So…”

Hiccup was about to reply, when they heard a knock. They looked over to see Mik standing in the doorway. “Hi, Hiccup. I heard you were here, so, um…d’you wanna come berry picking? There's loads this year, and in summer it’s like, the one thing you've gotta do. Except swim in the lagoon, of course, but what can top that?”

“That's a really nice offer” Hiccup began. Eret cleared his throat pointedly. “….but I can't. Sorry. I have to go meet the chief – your father, at the Althing-House.”

Mik’s face fell, disappointed. “Oh…that's fine…”

Impulsively, Hiccup added, “Eret’ll go with you, though.”

“You what?”

“Not me, you. Come on, Eret. You could take Mik for a ride on Sky Fire.”

“Yeah, and then the rest of that rabble he hangs out with will want a turn as well.”

“So get Aksel and the others to help. It'll give you something to do until lunch” Hiccup shrugged, walking towards the doorway. Eret followed him, frowning. Outside, Hiccup beckoned to Toothless, who climbed to his feet and stretched before padding to his rider’s side.

“Sir, we have orders from Ormar to escort you to."

“The Althing-House, yes, I know. We’re coming” Hiccup nodded. “Eret, keep everyone out of trouble. Or try to. Mik, sorry about bailing on you like this. Believe me, I'd much rather go with you than to the Althing. I don't suppose it can wait until after lunch?”

“Oh, sure. No problem. I mean, the berry bushes aren't gonna grow legs and wander off!” Mik laughed.

Hiccup smiled, and nodded to Eret. “See you at lunch. Have fun.”

“I can't believe you're leaving me to babysit” Eret groused. Mik glared at him indignantly.

“Oi! Who are you calling a baby?”

Hiccup and Toothless left them to bicker and followed the guards to the Althing-House.

* * *

Much later, after he’d convinced Ragnar and the other chieftains that the storehouse theft was no fault of dragons, and somewhat reluctantly suggested placing barrels of Icelandic eel outside the restocked and remaining storehouses to ward off actual dragons (if only to appease the likes of Darius, who stubbornly insisted that dragons could still raid), Hiccup felt drained.

At lunch everyone was waiting to hear his plan, but Hiccup was starving and finished his meal before he started explaining. All day a little of his strength had gone to dulling the pain in Toothless’ wing and healing it; they needed it to be healed by the evening for the plan to succeed, or else they would have to leave it in the hands – and talons – of their friends.

At last he called for attention, and all eyes turned to him. “So here's the plan. We get in the air tonight and watch the storehouses from above. If anyone sees the culprits break in and steal, _don't_ engage them, just follow. They’ll lead us right to wherever they’ve hidden the rest of the stolen food, and _then_ we’ll ambush them. Any questions?”

“What if they don't try to steal anything tonight?”

“Then we try again tomorrow. Chief, obviously my allies and I can't stay here much longer” said Hiccup, turning to Ragnar, “but if you set men to guard the storehouses, sooner or later the real culprits will slip up…just as a suggestion, of course.”

“Of course. We will catch these treasonous thieves red handed!” Ragnar declared, thumping his fist on the table.

“I've got a question” said Eret, “How are you and Toothless gonna do the stakeout? His wing’s bust.”

“It's just a pulled muscle. He’ll be fine by this evening, at the latest; and if he isn't, then I'll have to leave the matter in your hands, Odin forbid.”

“Nice to know you care” Eret snarked right back.

The plan was simple, but it would be effective – of course, it all hinged on another theft taking place. There wasn't much they could do about that, though. It was the best they could do for now, so everyone agreed, and if they came up with something else then all the better.

* * *

“What did you find out?”

“They're planning an ambush, to watch the storehouses from their dragons in the sky and follow us.”

“And if we do nothing?”

“Then they’ll try again tomorrow night. He's convinced the chief to set guards to catch the thieves, hoping we’ll slip up sooner or later.”

“We should stop this. There's no sense going to so much bother when nothing will come of it.”

“ _I'll_ decide when we stop. The Dragon Whisperer, is he part of this ambush plan?”

“It were his idea. He said the Night Fury’s wing should be healed by tonight.”

“Then we need to prepare. Gather the nets, the darts and chains. Let them do their little stakeout, they’ll find nothing tonight…except an ambush of our own.”

“What about the other thing? About the Dragon Whisperer understanding dragons?”

“Never mind that. He was either lying, or exaggerating. Either way, I don't care. I'm not interested…but I can think of people who would be.”


	5. Part Five

After lunch, Mik suggested that he ditched the boring Althing talks and come hang out with the young heir and his friends at the lagoon. Hiccup went under the pretence - not entirely unfounded - that a good soak would help Toothless’ wing heal. The dragon was more than happy to lounge in the large hot spring, sprawled with eyes closed and making happy gurgling sounds.

The teens were full of questions – not about dragons, these time, but Hiccup himself. What was it like where he lived? What did he actually do? Did he have kids? He dried off and retrieved his notebook to show them sketches of Astrid and Helena. There were a lot of appreciative whistles and “D’aww”s at the sight.

It wasn't long before the conversation came around to chiefdoms and inheritance. “The thing is, I wasn't even first in line” Mik said gloomily, “I had a big brother, Markus. He was supposed to take over my dad as chief of the tribe, but, um…he and my mum both…they were out at sea, and there was this storm…” he trailed off and blinked. Toothless crooned _sympathy,_ and Hiccup murmured, “I'm so sorry.”

Mik shrugged. “It's okay. It was years ago. Only now, everyone expects me to be Markus, and I’m not, y’know? I'm not my brother, and I'm definitely not my dad…I used to want to be chief, I was so jealous of Markus, but _now…_ ” he shook his head, long hair flying, and remarked, “Wow, that got heavy. I need to stop drinking this stuff.”

“Yeah, maybe you have had enough” Hiccup suggested, reaching out to pull the flask of mead away from the teen. Seeing that Mik still looked glum, he added, “I know how you feel, though. When I was your age I felt the same way about taking over from my father…but I realised, the future was going to come whether I wanted it to or not. So I needed to prepare for it.”

One of Mik's friends asked, “So you're a chief?”

“Nope” Hiccup smirked, “I got out of it.”

Mik blinked, bewildered. “Wait, what? How?”

Hiccup’s eyes shone with amusement as he replied casually, “I persuaded my wife to do it for me.”

There was a pause, and then they burst out laughing. “Nice! Hey”-

“Don't even think about, Mik!” his girlfriend, Ingrid, beat him to it, and his friends jeered. Mik took it all with good humour and laughed himself.

Once they'd calmed down again, he asked Hiccup, “So you think I oughta just become chief like my dad and everyone wants?” He didn't sound bitter, exactly, but sort of disappointed. Like he'd been hoping for a way out of the responsibilities.

Hiccup hesitated. Inwardly he wondered if Helena would be this tricky to talk to when she was a teenager…then he recalled years of awkward conversations with his father and realised the answer was undoubtedly _yes_. “Oh, I don't know. I can't tell you how to live your life...but, well, someone close to me once said that you can run away from a lot of things, but the future isn't one of them. So maybe just keep that in mind, yeah?”

“Yeah…yeah, I guess you're right” Mik said thoughtfully, “maybe I'll”-

Somebody screamed.

Toothless and Hiccup were on alert at once, the dragon heaving himself from the water and Hiccup snatching up _Inferno._ The teens cowered as a large shadow spread over them, and Hiccup looked up in alarm to see… “Torch!”

*And here I was enjoying myself* Toothless grumbled, as the young Typhoomerang came to a somewhat clumsy landing on the edge of the lake. Hiccup gave him a disapproving look and approached Torch, who purred happily as he lowered his snout to press against Hiccup’s outstretched hand.

“Hey, you. What're you doing here? This is still part of the human’s territory, you know” Hiccup scolded him a bit, even as he scratched Torch’s muzzle out of sheer habit. Torch rested his chin on Hiccup’s shoulder and gave Toothless a smug look; the black dragon’s tail lashed, eyes narrowing indignantly.

*I was bored* Torch informed Hiccup, peering at the humans who were all trying to hide behind Toothless or each other. *Who are they?*

Hiccup looked over his shoulder and said reassuringly, “Don't worry, guys, he's friendly. Hey, Mik, come here” he beckoned. Mik pointed to himself as if to say _who, me?_ He looked from Hiccup and Torch, to his friends, and back to the dragon. Then he gulped and cautiously walked over.

"It's okay” Hiccup smiled encouragingly, “Mik, this is Torch. Torch, Mik” he introduced them both. Mik looked at the very big dragon and gave a nervous wave.

“Um…hi?” He glanced at Hiccup and asked, “Should I, err, do that thing you showed us?”

“If you like” Hiccup agreed, stepping back but staying close enough that he could intervene if something went wrong. Though he doubted it would; of all the wild dragons here, Torch was the one most used to humans, and he trusted the Fire-Spinner not to deliberately hurt Mik or any of the other teens.

So Mik hesitantly reached out a hand, glancing from it to Torch, in particular his fangs, and muttering “Nice dragon…no threat...please don't bite me…”

“You don't have to be so nervous, you know. You’ll make him feel uneasy too. You need to show that you trust him, that you want to be friends. Like this” Hiccup explained, turning his head down and away, closing his eyes, and reaching out his left hand.

Toothless helped prove the point by pressing his snout into Hiccup’s palm. Then he moved forward and pushed his jaw into Hiccup’s stomach, in the process nudging him away from Torch. “What? Aw, are you jealous, you big baby?” Hiccup teased, “You want me all to yourself?”

*My human* Toothless declared to Torch, *Not yours.* Hiccup sighed; he didn't know whether to be exasperated by the pair of them, or amused.

Mik took a deep breath, and despite clearly not liking the idea, he closed his eyes and reached out his hand properly. Torch leaned down and sniffed at his fingers, whistling curiously. *He’s not got food.*

*He’s not trying to give you food* Toothless retorted. Hiccup shushed him and explained, *He wants to be friends, Torch. C’mon, don't keep him waiting.* So Torch pressed his snout carefully against Mik’s palm, and the teenage heir opened his eyes in surprise.

“Wow…” he murmured quietly, and scratched at the dragon’s muzzle a bit. Torch purred at him. “Heh. Good dragon. You're just like a huge scaly cat, aren’t ya?”

By now, seeing that Mik was petting a wild dragon and not getting his fingers bitten off, a few of the other teens were plucking up the courage to approach. One of them asked “Hey Mik, isn't that the dragon your dad caught the other day?”

“Uh…maybe?”

“He is” Hiccup nodded, “There was a misunderstanding, but it's been sorted. You know, Torch here, his mother is the Queen – like, the Chief – of the local dragon pack.”

"So, what, is he gonna be like, their king someday?”

“Well, actually, with dragons a male pack leader is called an alpha, not a king. It's kind of confusing. It's like how you can have a queen bee, or an alpha wolf, but there’s no such thing as a queen wolf or a king bee. You see what I mean?”

“Uh…not really.”

“Like I said, confusing. And that's not what you asked, is it? Sorry. Uh, no, Torch has an elder sister. _She_ would take over the pack, unless their mother is challenged by a rival and loses” Hiccup explained at last.

Mik considered this thoughtfully. “Hmm…so does that mean if I got someone else to challenge my dad, they could be chief instead of me?”

Hiccup gave him a stern, disapproving frown. “Mik…”

“Just kidding!” he said hastily, “…sort of.”

“How do you even know his mum is the Queen or pack leader or whatever?” asked Ingrid.

“Well, believe it or not, Toothless is the Alpha of our dragons back on Berk. When we came here, Torch’s mother – the Queen – thought he was going to challenge her, so she challenged us instead. Like I said, it was all just a misunderstanding.”

“But how do you know it was his mum and not some other Typhoomerang?”

“We’d already met her. Well, I say ‘met’…”

“Can I have a ride on your dragon?” another of Mik’s friends asked suddenly. By now there were several teens petting Torch’s long muzzle and scratching beneath his jaw; the Typhoomerang had his eyes closed and was purring with pleasure.

“Err – well, we would, but Toothless sprained his wing earlier. He's resting it” Hiccup explained. He used the reminder as an excuse to check on the injury; it should have healed at least halfway by now, given how drained he felt. There wasn't much pain there now.

* _We? I never said I'd do it even if I could fly right now*_ Toothless protested.

* _Oh come on, bud, don't be like that. You like giving people rides, don't you?*_

_*Sometimes. Other times I just let people on my back because you want me to.*_

_*But that's when they're enemies. Mik and his friends aren't enemies, they're just kids*_ Hiccup insisted. A thought occurred to him and he asked, “Didn't Eret and his crew give you rides on their dragons?”

“Yeah, but I wanna ride a Night Fury!” the boy explained, grinning in anticipation. Mik agreed, as did many of the other teens. A few of them wondered if they could hitch a ride on “the big orange one” as well. Torch, realising they were talking about him, got nervous and tried to hide his bulk behind Hiccup and Toothless’ smaller forms.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on! Torch is a wild dragon; he's more used to humans than most because I looked after him for a few days when he was a hatchling, but that doesn’t mean you can ride him. That's not how this works.”

“But your dragon is fair game, right?”

“No, not right. Toothless doesn't want to give anyone a ride, even if his wing was healed. I'm sorry, but I can't take you for a ride, any of you” Hiccup declared firmly. Everyone looked disappointed.

“When is”- Mik began, but he was cut off by a distant, yet alarmingly loud roar. Torch cringed at the sound, and hastily said *Sorry Hiccup gotta go bye!* He spread his wings wide, and Hiccup quickly ushered the kids away.

“Back up, guys, he needs space to take off.”

Torch leapt, spun and spiralled up into the sky. Everyone oohed and aahed at the sight, and when the dragon had gone, someone pointed at the ground and cried, “Whoa, look at that cool burn mark!”  

“Why did he leave?” asked Mik.

“I think his mother was calling for him” Hiccup explained, before asking, “So err, what were you saying?”

“Huh?” Mik stared blankly at him for a second before remembering. “Oh, yeah! I was saying, when is his wing gonna heal?”

“I was hoping it would be healed by now” Hiccup admitted. “Hey, bud, how’s it feel?”

Toothless stretched his wing out gingerly, and tried to flap it. *It’s better. Still kind of sore, though. I don't think I can fly on it yet* he admitted, with a frustrated moan. Hiccup sighed and stroked him comfortingly.

“It should be right as rain by sunset” he told Mik confidently…privately adding, _I hope._

* * *

Thankfully, his prediction panned out. After a good long nap – they were planning a nightly ambush, so it only made sense to have a rest – Toothless’ wing was much looser and Hiccup’s head was much clearer. As soon as they realised they could, the pair were in the sky.

“I had no idea dragon’s wings healed so quickly” Ormar commented, as he watched Hiccup and Toothless dart back and forth above the town. “They're quite impressive” he added approvingly.

“Yep, that's Hiccup and Toothless for you” Eret agreed, “Sometimes I think there's nothing the pair of them can't do together. I mean, they'd do anything for each other….we all would” he finished, with a pointed look.

Ormar replied, without taking his eyes off the sky, “Captain Eret, I know what you're getting at. I assure you, I have no want or need to betray him. Can you think of any such reason I would?” he challenged.

Eret frowned. “There are a lot of reasons a man might be tempted to betray” he said after a few moments, “For money, power, revenge…”

“I have money and power already” Ormar retorted, “and as for revenge, on whom? Hiccup Haddock has done nothing to me, and I hardly blame him for the war. Your suspicions are unfounded, captain. You'd do well to think before you judge others.”

Eret glared at him. “Why you arrogant-!”

His indignant spiel was abruptly cut off as Sky Fire nudged him. The Spike-Tail wanted to fly and was trying to invite Eret along, although there was nothing stopping him from taking off on his own. Eret shot Ormar one last ‘I'm watching you’ glare, and mounted up.

In the air, they caught up with Toothless – for all of a moment, as the Night Fury swept through the sky, revelling in the full use of his wings. _Their wings,_ for Hiccup was part of him; could they just stay here in the sky, as one, for the rest of the night? Or better yet, the rest of their lives?

* _I think Eret wants to talk to me*_ Hiccup mentioned, seeing Sky Fire out of the corner of his eye as they sped past. He was enjoying himself as much as his dragon, but that wasn't really an excuse to be impolite.

 _*Eret can wait*_ Toothless retorted. Still, when Hiccup insistently tugged on his saddle, he reluctantly slowed to let Sky Fire catch up. When the Nadder came level with them, Eret called over, “Having fun?”

“You have no idea!” Hiccup called back, grinning. “What's up?”

“We are!”

“Alright, ha, ha. I walked right into that one, didn't I?”

“Actually, you flew right into it.”

Hiccup face-palmed; Eret threw his head back and laughed. “Seriously, though” he said at last, once he'd caught his breath, “When you're done showing off, how about we gather everyone and go over the plan again.”

“Alright” Hiccup agreed. He looked over his shoulder and saw that they were already quite a ways from the town. Then he shaded his eyes and peeked at the setting sun, emblazoning the sky in swathes of orange and pinkish red. * _I don’t suppose you want to go back yet*_ he guessed.

* _Not really, no*_ Toothless replied. Then he glanced back at his rider, and sighed. * _You want to land, though, don't you?*_ he added resignedly.

* _Hardly…but we_ do _need to go over the plan, and eat dinner. We’ll be back in the air before you know it; and hey, you coped for the last couple of days. You can last a bit longer….we can race them back, if you want.*_

_*Alright, you win.*_

“….Cup? Hiccup!”

“Huh?”

"You okay? You just zoned out on me there.”

“Oh, sorry. I was talking to Toothless.”

“Oh. Well, I was saying, when do you wanna head back?”

“We can head back right now… _if_ you think you can keep up!” Hiccup laughed. Toothless swept around and zoomed back towards Smoking Bay; Sky Fire caught on and chased after him straightaway, their riders whooping with glee. In the air, Toothless-Hiccup were unstoppable and won easily; though Eret maintained that _they_ would have won if he'd had a chance to feed Sky Fire some chicken.

Everyone gathered to discuss the plan. *You call it a plan* Toothless had remarked, *We dragons call it what it is – hunting. We’re going to stalk our prey and ambush them, it isn’t really hard to grasp*. Despite the sarcasm, he was proud of Hiccup for thinking of such a good plan; a dragonish sort of plan, in fact.

Everyone paired up; Hiccup with Eret, Tinni with his brother Uggi, Noam with Òskar, and the last three, Jorge, Aksel and Safira, as a trio. That left Alfgautr and Andvari, the only ones of Eret’s crew that didn’t have dragons, to tail the saboteurs from the ground.

Each group would keep an eye on an area that Hiccup thought might be a target for the saboteurs; the two storehouses, the docks, the market place and the training ring. That last was unlikely, but these seemed the sort of places someone trying to frame dragons would target. Ragnar had set warriors to guard the armoury and the Althing-House as well, in case the saboteurs got ambitious.

“Okay, so as soon as you see anything suspicious, keep watch and follow them but don’t interfere. Find out where they’re going, and then signal the rest of us. We’ll surround them and take them by surprise” Hiccup explained, “any questions?”

Noam asked, “So, uh, why aren’t we just waiting for the thieves on the ground and nabbing them there?”

“Come on, Noam, you’re missing the bigger picture here” Eret told him.

“Oh…sorry, cap’n.”

Hiccup explained, “We need them to lead us to wherever they’ve hidden the stolen food, and the only way to do that is tail them until they reach it. That’s when we pounce – I mean, ambush them.”

“What makes you so sure they _have_ hidden the stolen food?” asked Alfgautr. “For all we know, they could have just dumped it in the ocean. That would be a much better way to cover their tracks.”

“Well, then we’ll follow them to wherever they’re dumping it” Hiccup replied, “but I really doubt that’s the case. Sabotage is one thing, but there’s no reason for them to waste perfectly good food. So…are there any other objections to the plan?”

They all looked at one another, and shrugged. So long as they kept their wits about them, it should all go smoothly. “Trust me, you guys. It’ll be easy as a glide.”

* * *

“Easy as a glide, he says” Eret muttered, as Sky Fire circled the storehouse. “Boring as one, too, least this bit is.”

Sky Fire croaked inquisitively at him, in the way Eret liked to think meant _are you okay?_ What he wouldn’t give to be able to understand his dragon the way Hiccup could…he leaned over to pat the Spike-Tail’s neck reassuringly. “Ah, don’t worry about me, pal. I’m fine.”

He peered down through the darkness at the storehouse. There was nothing to tell it apart from the other buildings other than the thin plume of smoke rising from the chimney, around which Sky Fire and Toothless we’re circling. The mouth-watering scent of smoked fish and sausage rose with the smoke, dissipating in the cool air.

They’d been up there for at least two hours, and there’d been no sign of anything untoward. By now Eret’s cheeks had gone numb. He was just about to urge Sky Fire closer to Toothless, and suggest to Hiccup that maybe they should call the whole thing off – a theft happening two nights in a row had been a long shot anyway – when Sky Fire suddenly growled.

Eret looked down and spotted – finally! – the tell-tale flicker of torchlight. His dragon came into a hover in front of and above the storehouse door. Toothless caught up, and they watched as three men, their faces hidden beneath cowls, slipped inside.

They emerged not long after with bulging sacks slung over their shoulders. Toothless and Sky Fire followed them, the Night Fury with eyes made for the darkness and the Nadder tracking the faint scent of fish and fibre. They didn’t go far – instead, more cloaked figures emerged to carry the sacks, one to another, down the long street to the docks as the first three went back for more.

The sacks were loaded onto a large boat. Eret’s suspicions rose…but, he supposed, they could be planning to steal from more than just that one storehouse. When the rest of them had boarded, the ship rowed out of harbour and out to sea a little ways, before turning its port side to the coast. Struggling against the current, the ship made its laborious way around the headland.

It moved towards a sea cave, which had been hidden behind the outcrop of rocks and below the high tide. The ship rowed through as the riders and their dragons watched silently from above. Hiccup and Eret had met up with Noam and Òskar at the docks. “So, uh, we going in?” Noam asked from Limestone’s saddle, as the stocky green-grey dragon hovered in the air, wings buzzing.

“No; first we need to send the signal. Noam, Òskar, find Andvari and Alfgautr, bring them to the cave. Eret, you and Sky Fire wait here for the others; Toothless and I’ll do a sweep and make sure there’s no other way in or out of this cave” Hiccup instructed.

“You got it, boss.”

“Alright, bud, do your thing” Hiccup prompted. Toothless craned his head back and fired a plasma blast almost straight up in the air. He flew over the cliffs, looking for any other tunnels or crevasses with his searching-roar. There was nothing but rock and the occasional hot spring all around and above the cave mouth.

They rejoined the others on the cliff above the cave. “Nobody’s come out; they must have the ship moored up in there” Eret reported when they landed.

“We couldn’t find anything; it looks like this cave is the only way in or out, so it’ll probably be well guarded.”

“Ah, it’s nothing we can’t handle” Eret smirked confidently. He turned to his crew and ordered, “Noam, Andvari, Alfgautr, you three stay here on lookout. Have Limestone come and warn us if any more ships turn up, and if we need help, go and warn Ragnar.”

“High alert, guys; we’ll check the coast is clear” said Hiccup. Toothless leapt and dived to the cave mouth. It was pitch black in there, but that was no problem for a Night Fury. *It’s clear* he said, and Hiccup signalled to the others to follow just before they flew in.

The dragons held their fires in their jaws, lighting the cave up like daytime. The longship was tied up to a stalagmite, the prow bumping against the stone. The cave was deeper than it looked from outside, with staggered ledges and stalagmites. There were sacks dumped in a pile on the highest ledge, well out of reach of the water. The most notable thing, however, was that there was no sign of the saboteurs they had followed in there in the first place.

The riders realised this a split second before hearing a rattling and a loud splash, as a metal mesh fell down across the cave entrance. “Ambush!” Eret yelled, as arrows, darts and nets hissed through the air towards them from behind fangs of rock and dark corners.

The dragons dodged away in every direction, but in the confined space of the cavern they had little room to manoeuvre. Cinder burst into flames, but that only made her more of a target, as two nets wrapped around her and sent her crashing onto the stone. Aksel struggled to cut them both loose, but the nets were chain.

From the cliffs, the other three heard the commotion; Noam buzzed down on Limestone, who spat a globule of lava at the mesh. The metal glowed red with heat, but didn’t break apart as they’d hoped, not even when Toothless fired a plasma blast at it. It was dragon proof!

“Go get help!” Eret shouted to Noam, just before Sky Fire had to spin to avoid a dragon-root arrow. “What was that about this being easy?!”

“What was that about ‘it’s nothing we can’t handle’?!”

Safira cried, “Maybe we can get out underneath!” She urged Ruby into a dive into the sea, only to burst back out of the water moments later. “No good, it’s too deep- agh! Ruby!” she screamed, as her Nadder was hit by several darts and drunkenly flapped to a crash-landing on the nearest solid surface, the deck of the ship.

“Land!” Hiccup ordered, “if we get hit and fall in the water, we’re done for!” On the inside he was cursing – Isak and his saboteurs, but more than that his own stupidity. They’d been betrayed! Someone had tipped their attackers off about the plan, given them time to prepare this ambush. He’d led his friends right into a trap!

The dragons were fighting back, and the cavern was filled with bursts of plasma, spines being flicked from tails, streams of flame. Their riders drew weapons and rushed yelling battle cries at the thieves, only to be downed with well-aimed and potent sleeper darts.

The darts pierced beneath the scales of the dragons as well, and too late Hiccup realised his mistake – in the air they were at risk of falling into the sea and drowning, but on land they were easier targets! It was too late; no sooner had Toothless landed than a bolas entangled his wings and front legs.

Hiccup was thrown off; he scrambled to his feet and moved to cut his dragon loose. Two enemies rushed at him from behind stalagmites, keeping out of reach of Toothless’ flames, and he ignited _Inferno_ , preparing to defend them both. He blocked the first attack, but – “Wait!” he cried out – it was hard to tell in the dark, but -“I know you! You’re Ormar’s guards!”

But of course, they were only a distraction; no sooner had he realised their identity, than he heard the telltale hiss of a dart. “Toothless!” He couldn’t fight off two attackers _and_ fend off the darts at the same time; he glanced back for just a moment, unable to stop himself, but that was all the time they needed. A sword hilt cracked down on his skull, and the whole world keeled sideways.

*Hiccup!!*

“…Toothless…”

* * *

The saboteurs had not come away unscathed. Many were sporting painful burns or scratches from narrowly dodged Nadder quills. However, they had had plenty of darts – what both Tinni and Uggi had failed to mention, something they’d regret later, was that Iceland was home to a herb that was the main ingredient in a sleeping potion. Concentrated, just a few were enough to knock out a full grown dragon.

“Nice going, Isak” Nikolas said bitterly, limping, “we could have just dumped the fish, covered our tracks, but _no,_ you had to get clever! Now what? As soon as they wake up, they’ll be running right off to the chief and we’ll be exiled before we can blink.”

“The one on the other Gronckle got away” one of Ormar’s guards pointed out, “he went to get help. We might not have much time.”

“Well then let’s not waste it” Isak glared at him. “Winch that mesh up again, and put the dragons on the ship, as many as will fit. Especially the Night Fury. We can sell them at Faroe. Well? What are you waiting for?”

“Sell them?”

“That, or ransom. If we’re gonna be exiled, we might as well give ourselves a head start” Isak explained.

Several of the men looked perturbed. “Forget it, Isak. This has gone far enough” said Nikolas. He made his way towards a narrow tunnel in the back of the cave, easily missed in the darkness unless you knew where to look. “I’m going home. Have fun with your self-imposed exile” he added mockingly.

Some of the saboteurs followed his lead and left, hoping to sneak back to their homes and pretend none of it had ever happened. Most, however, stayed and started to do Isak’s bidding. “What about the riders?”

“Leave them; except him” Isak ordered, pointing at the unconscious Dragon Whisperer. “He comes with us.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really! He and his Night Fury are probably worth more than the rest of the beasts put together.”

“So, you’re doing this for money.”

“It’s not about the money! I will not live ‘peacefully’ alongside the creatures that took my brother from me. I won’t insult his memory that way. If that means I have to be outcast, then so be it.”

Even unconscious, the dragons were hard to move. It took all of them to shift the (relatively speaking) smaller ones below deck. They left the Monstrous Nightmare and the Zippleback; they were too big; and the ship rowed laboriously against the tide and out to sea.

* * *

Hiccup groaned...his head was killing him. He abruptly remembered why; the failed ambush (or not, depending on how he looked at it), getting knocked out trying to protect... A surge of panic sent his eyes flicking open wide, as he cried out, “Toothless!”

*I’m here, it’s alright* his other half said reassuringly. Hiccup recovered enough wits to get his bearings; he was on a boat, below deck, in a cage. His wrists were bound behind his back, and there was a manacle around his right ankle. The chain had many coils. He got to his feet, walked unsteadily over to a corner of the cage, and peered through the bars.

Toothless was in the cage opposite him, then Sky Fire and Ruby on Toothless’ right. Jorge’s Hobblegrunt, Varikas, was in the cage next to Hiccup, and Kivia, Oskar’s Gronckle, in the next. There was no sign of Cinder or Flash&Fog but the cages were only big enough for medium sized dragons, so it was possible they just couldn’t have fit.

 _Here we go again._ *I’m sorry, guys* Hiccup apologised, *this is all my fault.*

*No, it isn’t* Toothless replied automatically.

*It is. I should have realised…that cave just screamed ‘trap’, but like an idiot I figured _we’d_ be trapping _them_. We should have just tailed them and come back to whatever we found in the morning. Catching the culprits wasn’t as important as proving the dragons innocent.*

Before the dragons could reply, they heard wood creaking, and somebody came down the ladder-like steps. Hiccup’s mouth set into a hard line as Isak turned to face him. “You’re awake, then” he noted. The dragons growled at him. He ignored them.

The first words out of Hiccup’s mouth were “What did you do to my friends?”

“Nothing. They’re still in the cave. Do you want to know why their dragons are here?”

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, and casually replied, “Don’t tell me; you realised you’d be exiled, so you decided to get a head start, and you’re planning to sell our dragons and use the gold to start over somewhere else.”

For a moment, Isak looked surprised. Then he frowned and said sarcastically, “Well, aren’t you clever?”

“Is this what Hafni would have wanted?”

Isak glared at him. “Ormar told me about your brother” Hiccup said calmly. “I’m sorry he’s dead, but that is _not_ my fault. If you want to blame anyone, blame Adulfr.”

“Oh, I blame him too, but the war was waged against you, Dragon Whisperer. Do you know how Adulfr convinced us to follow him? He warned us that one day you would turn up and try to change everything, the whole way we lived, when you had _no right_ ” – his fists clenched.

“I made a mistake” Hiccup admitted, “I shouldn’t have expected things to change so easily, but seriously, sabotage? If you’d just _told_ me how you felt, I would have listened!”

Isak visibly wavered. “Let us go, and I’ll convince Ragnar not to exile you” Hiccup offered, trying to end it peacefully. He didn’t have much hope, though.

“Oh, you mean like how you convinced him it would be a good idea to live with dragons, after everything they’ve done to us?”

“You can’t blame all dragons just because-!” Hiccup gritted his teeth; starting an argument would get him nowhere. “I get why you captured _them_ ” he said, nodding towards the other cages, “but why am _I_ here?” Not that he or Toothless were complaining; better they be kidnapped together than separated.

“A little bird told me you can understand dragons” Isak replied, “not that I believe it, but some people will believe anything- for a price. If you really do have such a gift, people would pay to have you translate for them.”

Hiccup raised an eyebrow again. “You mean they’d pay _you_ to have me translate for them” he retorted.

“That, or whoever I sell you to” Isak replied. With that he turned on his heel and strode away, climbing back up the ladder onto the deck. As soon as he was gone, Hiccup began thinking of a plan to escape.


	6. Part Six

“Captain! Captain, wake up!” Noam cried, shaking Eret by the shoulders. He groaned and blearily opened his eyes, still dazed. Noam cried urgently, “The dragons are gone!”

 _That_ woke Eret up. He sat bolt upright and scrambled to his feet, looking around wildly. “Sky Fire?!”

Noam was already waking up the others; of all their dragons, only Flash&Fog, Cinder, and of course Limestone had been spared. The rest had been taken. Then Eret noticed the absence of a certain jet black dragon, and more importantly his rider, and swore.

He was furious – at Isak, mostly, but also at himself. He should have realised how suspicious it all was! They’d been tricked, betrayed. “Someone sold us out!”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Damn it, Noam, we know it wasn’t you! It can’t have been any of us. Either someone was eavesdropping or…no. _Ormar._ That lying son of a _snake_!”

“Captain!” called Tinni, “there’s a tunnel back here. It looks like it might lead back towards the town.”

Eret frowned, then demanded of Noam, “Where are Alfgautr and Andvari? Did they go to get help?”

“Yes, Captain, they’re on their way right now with Ragnar and his warriors.”

“Alright, here’s the plan. Safira and I will ride with Aksel; Oskar, Jorge, you ride with the brothers. First, I need to have a word with Ragnar.”

They mounted up, and the dragons flew out of the cavern to land in front of the Vikings approaching it. Eret dismounted and strode forwards, jaw set. “Captain Eret! Your crewmen said you were under attack, what is…” Ragnar began, but Eret didn’t let him finish.

“Yeah, I’d really like to know what’s going on as well!” he fumed, “What the heck is a dragon proof mesh doing bolted above the mouth of that cave? Isak and his cronies had sleeper darts, net catapults, dragon-root arrows – Chief Ragnar, I told you to get rid of everything from the war! It all should have been destroyed!”

“It was!” Ragnar shouted right back. “Our guards were under strict instructions to have it all burned. That cave was used to capture dragons, but the winches needs to be unlocked, and only I have the key.”

“Does Ormar know where the key is?”

“Of course. He’s my second in command, I trust him.”

Eret’s eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you” he declared, before glaring and pointing at Ormar. “Chief Ragnar, this man is a traitor.”

There were gasps. “I am nothing of the sort!” Ormar snapped indignantly.

“Those are dangerous words, captain” warned Ragnar, “Ormar has been loyal to me and to the tribe for decades. What proof do you have of his treachery?”

“Chief, they took almost all of our dragons. They took Hiccup as well, and the only reason they would bother is because of what he told you!” Eret said accusingly to Ormar, whose eyes widened in shock.

“Told him what?” demanded Ragnar.

“Hiccup was captured?!” Ormar cried.

“Yes, he’s captured, because you” –

“I did not betray him!” Ormar shouted, “For Odin’s sake, Captain, _think_ for once! I was not the only one present when Hiccup explained his plan” –

“ _We_ didn’t tell them!”

“Shut up, Noam!”

“Sorry.”

“Of course you didn’t, and neither myself nor Ragnar would betray our people or you…” Realisation dawned, and Ormar swore. “My guards. _They_ were there, they must have eavesdropped on your plan…and on my talk with Hiccup. That is why Isak knew of his secret, Captain.”

Eret glared at him. “You really expect me to believe that?”

Before Ormar could retort, Alfgautr stepped forward and said, “Captain, I am just as suspicious as you are, but this is getting us no closer to rescuing Hiccup and the dragons. What do you need us to do?”

Eret sighed. “You’re right. Chief, there’s a tunnel in that cave, do you know where it lets out?”

“Of course.”

“Then go there, you might find a clue as to who else was involved here. Alfgautr, Andvari, you two go with them.”

“Captain, let me go with you” Ormar insisted, “I want to help! Let me prove that I am not a traitor.”

“Look, even if I believed you, you can’t come. Our dragons are gonna be weighed down enough as it is.”

“I understand” Ormar said curtly, “Then I suggest you head south-east, if you want any hope of catching them. There’s a dragon hunter port in the Isles of Faroe; if Isak is taking your dragons anywhere, it’s there.”

Eret frowned. He still didn’t trust the man, but it was the only lead they had…and he _did_ know about the dragon hunters at Faroe. He and his crew were fierce competitors –some would say enemies – with them.

He strode back over to Cinder and mounted up behind Aksel, who asked “Do you think they’re okay?”

“I’m sure they’re fine, Aksel. If Isak is planning to sell them, then he won’t hurt them. Besides, if I know Hiccup, he’ll have already figured out a way to escape and we can get our dragons back in midair.”

* * *

As soon as he was sure Isak had gone, Hiccup said sarcastically, *This has been fun, let’s not do it again.*

*Alpha-Hiccup, do you have a plan?* asked Sky Fire.

*I think so. Although, given how the last one turned out…* He grimaced, chagrined.

*Stop it* Toothless scolded, *Hiccup, this wasn’t your fault. They were waiting for us, they knew we’d be there.* His eyes narrowed as he added, *It must have been Ormar; he’s the only one who could have…I am going to _kill_ him. I warned him!* he snarled.

*No! No killing, no deaths. I’m sick of it. Do you _want_ people to think you’re murderous and vengeful, or that I am?* Hiccup demanded, glaring at his dragon. Toothless cringed, pupils widening, and he immediately felt awful.

*Oh, I’m sorry, bud. I know you don’t…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it* he apologised.

*It’s okay* Toothless replied after a moment, *I’m sorry too. So, what’s your plan?*

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder and said, *Well, first I’ve got to get out of these ropes*. He looked around the cell for anything sharp. *Then I’ll pick the locks and free the rest of you, or better yet steal the keys off someone if I can…Toothless, you and I’ll blast out of the ship and hold Isak and his men off long enough for everyone to get in the air. Then we’ll go find the others.*

*I hope they’re okay* said Ruby, *Alpha-Hiccup, why didn’t they capture all of us?*

*These cages aren’t that big…my guess is they couldn’t fit Cinder or Flash&Fog below deck* Hiccup explained. The only sharp thing in the cage with him was his spare dagger; he could feel that the one usually strapped to his left forearm had been removed. Bracing himself against one wall, he struggled to pick the second smaller knife out of his belt. It was placed just so, so that if his hands were tied behind his back, he could reach it.

*Actually* he changed his mind, *we’ll wait until the others catch up, so there’s more of a distraction.*

*Do you think they can catch up?*

*Of course, Varikas. Nothing’s going to stop them coming to get us back, trust me* Hiccup assured him, hoping he sounded more confident than he felt. The last thing he wanted was to put everyone at unnecessary risk, _again,_ so he racked his brains trying to think of any flaws in the plan he’d come up with. 

Who was he kidding? There were too many to count. Someone could come down and catch him picking the locks; he might not even be _able_ to pick these locks. Eret and the others might not know where to look for them. The ocean was a big place, even if Ragnar had given them some idea of where to look…

Thinking of Ragnar made him think of Ormar. He could swear the men who had attacked him were Ormar’s guards. They must have been the ones to eavesdrop…but had they done so at Ormar’s behest, or were they working against him? Surely the man would know if his warriors were loyal to him. If they were, then…

They had talked about the plan indoors, in a windowless room where nobody should have been able to hear them. He thought he could trust everyone in there…he’d given no thought to the men standing right outside.

By now he’d tugged the small but sharp knife from his belt, and was sawing through the ropes. Hopefully the sound of the waves and the creaking planks of the deck would hide the _shh-shh-shh_ sound it made. As he worked he shared his thoughts with Toothless.

* _I don’t even know if Ormar_ did _betray us. His two guards definitely have, but they might have been working against him as well.*_ He sighed and berated himself, * _I shouldn’t have told him about being able to understand you guys. Now these traitors know, and they’ll spread the word…*_

Toothless whined quietly with guilt and gazed longingly at Hiccup through the bars of the cage. * _I’m the one who pushed you to tell him. I should have been warier when you told him. As usual, it’s just as much my fault as yours.*_

Hiccup felt the ropes loosen. * _You know I don’t blame you…and blaming myself isn’t going to help us now. People have known for years that I can understand dragons; something like this was going to happen sooner or later.*_ The ropes loosened a bit more. They would get out of there…but then what?

* * *

Five minutes later, he’d cut through the ropes and freed his hands. Now he was working on picking the padlock of his cell. The twins, of all people, had taught him how to do it. Toothless kept watch for him. The last thing they needed was Isak or one of the other outcasts coming down and catching them trying to escape.

Most of his attention was on listening for the click of the lock, or Toothless’s warning. The monotony made his mind wander, and he wondered what he could possibly do about Isak and the others. He was so sick of people assuming the worst about him, about dragons…but at the same time, he shouldn’t have to bend over backwards to please everyone!

It wasn’t fair. _They_ were the traitors, Isak was the one who had stirred them up, Adulfr was the one who got Isak’s brother killed…and yet everyone kept blaming him. Part of him wanted to leave them all to their fate, he shouldn’t _care_ what happened to them, how they were punished. They deserved it. Yet at the same time…

* _What’s wrong?_ * Toothless asked him, sensing his frustration and crooning comfortingly.

Hiccup sighed and told him. * _I feel like they’re going to blame me no matter what I do. I’m sick of making enemies, of being blamed for_ no reason _…but if_ I _don’t bury the hatchet, then who will? The last thing I need is Isak resenting me the way Adulfr did – but damn it, how am I supposed to forgive him? He wants to enslave us!*_

 _*You don’t have to forgive him. Any of them. They’re in the wrong, Hiccup, not you. If you show mercy, don’t show it for their sake; if you ask me, they don’t deserve it. But if you really want to, do it for yourself. You know I’m on your side no matter what. You’re not alone. If Isak or anyone else comes after you, they’ll have to get past_ me _first.*_

Hiccup paused in his attempts to pick the lock, and looked over at Toothless and smiled. * _Thanks, bud. That really means a lot.*_

 _*It’s what I’m here for*_ Toothless purred back to him.

Trying to pick the padlock was slow going. It was on the other side of the bars, so Hiccup had to be twisted awkwardly to reach it. The clasp was stubbornly refusing to budge no matter how much he poked at it. The lock-pick became wedged in the mechanism and snapped; Hiccup bit back a curse and took out one of the spares.

Suddenly, they heard the trapdoor rattle. Hiccup swiftly took the lock-pick out and put his hands behind his back. Someone came down the ladder, carrying a burlap sack. To his relief, it wasn’t Isak; he didn’t think the man would be so easily fooled.

The Viking gestured to the sack and explained, “It’s fish. For the dragons.” He hesitated, and then asked, “Are _you_ hungry?”

“…Uh, no. I’m fine” Hiccup answered after a moment. He watched silently as the man unlocked each cage door and tossed a handful of stiff, salty fish into the cells. When he passed again, Hiccup suddenly exclaimed, “Wait!”

Caught off guard, the man stopped and turned to face him. Hiccup stepped closer to the bars and held his gaze earnestly. “You don’t have to do this” he begged, “you don’t have to sell the dragons. I can talk to your chief, persuade him not to exile you. Do you really want to leave your home and your family over this? Don’t you think this has gone too far?”

The Viking looked uncomfortable. “Look, I’m sorry, okay?” he said. “It’s just…we’re traitors. Chief Ragnar is going to exile us anyway, says Isak, and we need the money, so we have to sell these dragons. It’s nothing personal.” He shrugged in a sort of apologetic way and moved to climb back up the ladder with the empty sack.

Hiccup waited until the hatch had closed once more, and he was sure the man had gone. *Well, he was unobservant* he remarked, reaching through the bars to unlock his cell with the key that he’d taken from the man.

After all, locks weren’t the only thing the twins had taught him to pick.

Despite the muzzle, Toothless gave him a gummy smile, and the dragons laughed. *You sneaky little thief!*

Hiccup slid the door open and slipped out, darting across the companionway to Toothless’ cell and unlocking it. He slid it open wide enough for Toothless to squeeze through, and unclasped the muzzle from around his jaws. Then he hurried to unlock Sky Fire’s cage. It was only a matter of time before the man realised his keys had been stolen and came back.

* * *

In fact, he managed to unlock every cage but one, Kivia’s, before the hatch was opened again. The same man came down the ladder…and found himself face to face with five uncaged, unmuzzled, rather angry looking dragons. He gulped, and glanced past them at Hiccup, who merely put a finger to his lips.

The Viking froze, trying to watch all the dragons at once. Trusting the others to keep an eye on their unexpected guest, Hiccup unlocked Kivia’s cage and unmuzzled her. *Thank you, Alpha-Hiccup* she purred at him.

*You’re welcome* he replied, smiling at her. Then he went back up the passage to the hapless Viking, and murmured to him, “Nobody needs to know.” He pushed the keys back into the man’s hand, and stepped back, motioning for the dragons to stand down as well.

Somebody shouted down from the deck, “Hey! What’s taking so long?!”

Hiccup tensed – if the man gave them away then things were about to explode – but instead, to his relief and slight surprise, the man called back, “Nothing! I dropped the keys, but I’ve found them! I’ll be right back!”

Then he dropped his voice and begged in a fearful whisper, “Please don’t let them kill me!”

Hiccup resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “ _They_ _won’t_ ” he hissed back. The man hesitated, and then turned and climbed back up the ladder as fast as he could.

*Now we’re in trouble* said Hiccup, climbing into the saddle. The man might not have given them away when he was faced with six dragons, but Hiccup suspected that he would start talking as soon as he was out of the line of fire, so to speak.

*Why didn’t you stop him?* asked Toothless, *You could have tied him up.*

*You heard that other guy. They would have gotten suspicious if he hadn’t gone back up, and come to investigate. Besides, there is a….very, very small chance that he won’t give us away* Hiccup replied, ever the optimist. Toothless rolled his eyes and pricked his ear-flaps up, listening closely.

There was no commotion on the deck – no sound of shouted orders or the hollow thud of running boots. It was _too_ quiet, and after being ambushed once, Toothless was far more wary. *Now would be a really good time for the others to show up* he remarked, sensing that if they tried to escape now, they wouldn’t get very far.

Then – to their relief – they heard a shout of “Dragons!”

* * *

Cinder, Flash&Fog and Limestone had finally caught up with the ship. Eret peered through a spyglass over Aksel’s shoulder, and saw that everyone on board was aiming crossbows at the hatch that led below deck. “Looks like they’re trying to play the ambush card again” he remarked, “Alright lads! And Safira! Hiccup and Toothless need a distraction, by the look of it, so let’s oblige!”

The dragons flew to surround the ship, and dived on it flaming and roaring. The humans on the boat startled, shouted and turned their arrows upwards. Cinder spat flames at them, and Limestone crunched down the rocks they flung. Flash&Fog circled the ship and surrounded it in poison-gas, making it harder for the humans to aim.

“What are you waiting for?” Isak demanded, “Fire!”

“At what?!”

“Err…does anyone else hear that?”

‘That’ was a high-pitched, ever louder, unmistakable whistling sound. “Night Fury” Isak breathed, “Get down!”

They all dived for cover – moments before the hatch exploded into burning splinters. Toothless leapt out of the hole in the deck, snarling, his spikes glowing a vivid blue. The other dragons darted out after him, climbing up into the sky to reunite with their riders.

All eyes were on the Night Fury, and the few people still holding weapons aimed but did not shoot. Hiccup looked at the Vikings, and at the dragon riders poised to attack, and decided, _Enough_. “Hold your fire!” he shouted at the top of his lungs, “Don’t shoot!”

The dragons obeyed out of respect for him as an alpha; the men stopped in confusion, staring at him warily. He had to keep talking. “This has gone far enough. I was wrong, okay? I shouldn’t have expected things to change so easily...but none of you had to turn traitor and exile yourselves just to make a point! What about your families; are you really going to leave them behind over this?”

The would-be outcasts faltered, glancing uncomfortably at each other. Hiccup met Isak’s cold gaze and insisted, “I’m sorry that Hafni is dead, but it is not my fault. It isn’t the dragons faults. It’s Adulfr, he’s the one who started a war that I never even wanted. I told you, I was trying to help. I was trying to bring peace!"

Isak glared at him, and replied coldly, “Nobody asked you to.”

“Actually, mate, someone did ask him” Eret chimed in, as Sky Fire landed on the deck. “Your chief. Ragnar invited Hiccup to the Althing so he could explain how dragons and humans can live alongside one another. It was never about turning your town into a...a village-nest hybrid” he explained. Then he frowned thoughtfully, and remarked to Hiccup, “You know, we should think of a name for when a village and a dragon nest are combined.”

“Maybe not right now” Hiccup said pointedly. _Now where were we?_ “Is Ormar part of this?” he asked. He needed to know how much betrayal he was facing.

“Hardly” Isak scoffed, “He’s too close to the Chief, that selfish buffoon. You think we didn’t try to tell him we were displeased? You heard him – he wants dragons living amongst us, never mind what we want, he’s the Chief. He wasn’t going to change his mind, we had to make him.”

“There were better ways to do that than sabotage” Hiccup insisted. “No offence, but it wasn’t even very good sabotage. Fine, maybe your Chief didn’t think this through, but I didn’t come here to lead some sort of dragon takeover, you know.”

They looked like they were beginning to regret the whole mess. “I’ll talk to your chief” Hiccup offered, “I’ll convince him not to exile you all, but only if you surrender. If you don’t…then I don’t care what happens to you. I am done with this” he declared firmly.

There was a long silence, broken only by the steady lapping of the waves against the hull. Then the Vikings slowly lowered their weapons; they looked like they were regretting the whole mess. Only Isak kept a blade in his hands, scowling, holding onto his anger.

Hiccup looked him right in the eye and told him, “You know that nothing either of us say or do is going to bring your brother back. Adulfr held onto his anger at me for six years, and it ended up costing lives. Don’t be like him, Isak. You can be better. You want to honour your brother’s memory? Then don’t become like the man who led to his death!”

Isak glared at him. “You think I’m just going to forgive and forget, just like that?”

“Of course not. I don’t expect you to be okay all of a sudden…but if you stay angry like this, you never _will be._ You were going to sell me into slavery, for Thor’s sake, and I have every reason to hate you for it…but I don’t.”

Isak grit his teeth and glared at Hiccup. As much as he hated to admit it…the man had a point. Holding onto his anger was getting him nowhere – and yet! “You’re nothing but a charlatan, Haddock. A liar. Pretending dragons can understand us, that you can understand them…how do we know you won’t break your word as soon as we return to shore?”

At that point, Hiccup gave up. Isak was clearly not going to believe him, and he’d just have to deal with having another person resent him for years. _Story of my freaking life_ he sighed. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”

Isak frowned…but finally, to Hiccup’s relief, he threw his weapon down. It clattered to the deck at Toothless’ paws. The Vikings surrendered, and because the winds had dropped and they were essentially stranded, the dragons towed them back towards the shore.

* * *

True to his word, when they returned to Smoking Bay Hiccup persuaded the chief not to severely punish the traitors. No real harm had been done, he argued, and besides, if they had tried to exile themselves then it would be better to punish them by doing the exact opposite.

Ragnar ordered that everyone who was complicit in Isak’s treachery come forward; if they did, he would be merciful. Given the alternative was to be exiled as traitors, they gave themselves up. Nikolas and the ones who had returned rather than try to escape were let off with little more than a stern talking to, and a warning that they would only get _one_ second chance

As for the ones who _had_ kidnapped Hiccup and the dragons…they were jailed for several months, Ormar’s guards were dismissed from his service, and Isak was tasked with removing and destroying the chain mesh in the sea cave. By himself.

None of this was decided on the night. When they returned to shore, the riders gave their ‘captives’ over to Ragnar and his men. A few explanations were shared, and after the wrongdoers were locked up nearly everyone was more than willing to go to bed. It had been a long night.

Hiccup wasn’t tired, so he and Toothless stayed out, gliding aimlessly above the cliffs and the ocean. They found a sea stack to land on, and Hiccup sat on the edge with his back against Toothless’ chest. He could feel more than hear his dragon-half purring, and his heart beating.

His contentment was interrupted slightly when Toothless leaned down and licked his hair. “Thanks” he said sarcastically, grimacing. He knew Toothless was only reassuring himself, and he didn’t really mind it…but it was still gross. Still, he supposed getting his hair wet and sticky wasn’t so bad. At least it wasn’t his face this time.

Toothless warbled happily. *I’m really proud of you* he told his other half. It was in Hiccup’s nature to be merciful, to reach out with a hand instead of lash out with a weapon. Toothless owed his life to Hiccup’s mercy, and it was one of the many, many reasons that…*I love you.*

Hiccup smiled up at him, and twisted round so he could hug the dragon properly. Toothless folded a paw over his back and held him close. *I love you too.*

They stayed out there for a while, talking quietly about what to do next. It was clear that Smoking Bay wasn’t ready for dragons, but at the same time, Flare Twirl and her pack had a claim to this land too. At last they agreed on what they should do, and then Toothless nudged at his partner until Hiccup got back in the saddle. The man was starting to doze off against his shoulder, and a sea stack was not the place for him to be falling asleep.

The following day, Hiccup asked Ragnar and Ormar to meet him and Toothless at the outskirts of the town. The latter’s first words to them were, “I am deeply sorry. If I had had any idea that there were traitors in our midst I would have” –

Hiccup held a hand up. “It’s alright, Ormar. You didn’t know, and you didn’t betray us. There’s no harm done.”

Ormar looked relieved, and mildly impressed. “Thank you. I’m glad to be forgiven…and surprised that you forgave Isak, to be honest. Your sense of mercy is admirable.”

“Well, one of us had to bury the hatchet first, you know” Hiccup shrugged, “and the last guy who resented me started a war over it. Besides, I know the good that can come from showing mercy, even if it seems foolish” he explained, stroking Toothless’ head affectionately.

“Why did you ask us to come out here?” asked Ragnar.

Hiccup took a deep breath and explained, “Your people clearly aren’t ready to have dragons living amongst them. I thought perhaps they could be, but I was wrong. You need to do what is best for your tribe, and I respect that, but I need to think of the needs of the dragons as well.

“So…I’m a fan of negotiating, no surprise, and since I don’t live here, it’s better if you negotiate with the Queen. Of the dragons, I mean. The local pack. You’ve met her, she’s the red, uh…” Hiccup gestured above his head to indicate something tall, and winced when Toothless swatted him upside the head with his tail. “Ow!”

*You’re rambling* the dragon said pointedly, amused.

“Right. Sorry.”

Ragnar frowned, clearly bewildered. “Negotiate? With that red Typhoomerang, the one you say is the dragon’s leader? But to do that I’d have to…to _talk_ to her. Even if she can understand what I say, it’s not like she can talk back!” he protested, incredulous.

Hiccup swallowed. “Ah, well, the thing is…they can talk back, you just wouldn’t be able to hear them. But I can – Toothless and I can let you hear them. The dragons. I shouldn’t really be doing this, it’s a huge risk, but I can’t think of how else to…um, that’s why I asked you to come, Ormar. As a witness. I’ll let you hear them too, obviously, you and I can mediate. If that’s okay?”

Ormar raised an eyebrow at him, and then looked at Toothless. “Nervous, isn’t he?”

The dragon nodded. “I assure you, Hiccup, you have my solemn word that when you share your _remarkable_ gift with us, neither I nor my chief will betray your trust” Ormar promised. Hiccup gave him a grateful nod.

Ragnar was looking more confused and annoyed by the moment. “What are you talking about?” he demanded. “What do you mean, let me hear the dragons? I’m not deaf, you know, I can hear them just fine!”

“Okay, let me rephrase that. I can let you _understand_ them. Look, just trust me” Hiccup insisted, when Ragnar looked sceptical.

He and Toothless brought first Ormar, then Ragnar into the pack web. The look on the chief’s face when he first heard Toothless talk was _priceless._ Then they called in Flare Twirl; they had already persuaded her to talk to Ragnar, which had been much easier said than done.

Hiccup was very pleased to be able to call to order the first official peace talk between the chief of a Viking tribe and the queen of a dragon pack. Ragnar and Flare Twirl talked – well, mostly argued – for hours over how to please both sides. Ormar and Hiccup offered suggestions, doing their best to keep the peace.

At long last, they agreed that so long as nobody on either side harmed anyone on the other, they could live and let live. The humans could come into the dragon’s territory, just not at night and not with weapons or trapping things. The dragons could come to the lagoon and the hot springs around Smoking Bay, just not into the town itself. If either a human or a dragon broke the rules, Ragnar and Flare Twirl would punish their own kind; neither would punish the other’s people.

“I think that went rather well” Hiccup remarked to Ormar, after Flare Twirl left. The ‘magic translator’ had worn off, and Ragnar actually looked disappointed when he realised he could no longer understand what the dragons were saying. In fact he looked like he wanted to do it again, but Hiccup had already explained that it gave him a headache.

“Indeed. I may be a warrior, but I know that if one can talk, better to do that than merely fight” Ormar agreed. “Now then, I think there’s just one mystery left.”

“Oh?”

“You have the ability to understand dragons, Hiccup. You can give this gift to others, but what I have to ask is…who gave the gift to _you_?” Ormar asked.

Hiccup hesitated. “Err, well, I can’t really give you the details…but if you must know, Toothless did, I suppose. I just can’t tell you how” he explained vaguely.

Ormar looked thoughtful. “I see. It wouldn’t happen to be anything to do with a, ah, heart bind, would it?”

Now both Hiccup and Toothless stared at him in shock, and he almost laughed at their expressions. “How – what – who – how did you – ?” Hiccup stammered.

The older man held up his hands placatingly. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to alarm you. I don’t know what it _is,_ exactly, but whenever I heard rumours of you being able to talk to dragons, two words tended to come up. Heart bound. I assume it is some kind of…what's the word…life bond, between you two?”

Hiccup gulped. “S-something like that, yeah” he admitted reluctantly. Toothless curled his tail around possessively and gave Ormar a warning glare. Somewhat to their surprise, the man merely nodded.

“I see. I won’t ask how that came to be; I can tell you don’t want to talk about it” he acknowledged. “I will say this, though; you possess a gift that is both a great strength, and a great weakness. I suggest you are very careful about with whom you share this secret of yours, Hiccup Haddock.”

 _Tell me something I don’t know._ Out loud, Hiccup merely replied, “I know. I will…and thank you, Ormar. For keeping our secret and, well, for everything” he smiled. Ormar smiled and nodded in return.

* * *

They spent the last day in Iceland exploring, seeing the sights…and buying souvenirs. Hiccup went berry picking with Mik, and the teen bribed Toothless with fish into letting him have a ride. He showed them all the interesting places nearby; the caves, the geysers, the glacier…that rock that everyone scratched their names into.

Hiccup scratched out ‘T-H were here’ just for the fun of it.

Ragnar threw a great feast in their honour for their last night in Smoking Bay. “A toast!” he cried, “To the Dragon Whisperer, and his loyal friends. So long as I am Chief, Hiccup Haddock, you and your dragon will always be welcome here.”

“Yeah!” Mik exclaimed, “and when I’m Chief…one day…you and Toothless can totally come and hang out. Oh, and bring your wife and kid, I’d love to meet them!”

Hiccup chuckled. “I might just do that. Thank you, both of you. It’s been an honour” he replied.

“To Hiccup and Toothless!” Eret exclaimed, raising his tankard. Everybody cheered and knocked their drinks back. Hiccup blushed and tried not to look too embarrassed…Toothless, on the other hand, preened at all the attention.

Toothless wasn’t exactly thrilled to have to go back on board the _Crashing Tide II._ He and Hiccup stayed in the air for as long as they could. When they finally did land, Toothless balked at the thought of going below deck. He just felt too entrapped...boats, for him, held too many bad memories. Only it started raining, so they couldn’t sleep on deck. They had to go right below, where the rocking was felt less. Hiccup stroked him and soothed him until Toothless fell asleep, and he did the same soon after.

It was such a joy to see Berk again…Hiccup genuinely hadn’t realised how much he’d missed home until it appeared on the horizon. Iceland was a beautiful place, and he’d like to go back there one day, but this was their nest, their home.

What seemed like every dragon in the pack came swarming to greet their returned Alphas; even Urchin poked his head out of the water and crooned loudly, happy to see them. Well, probably mostly Hiccup. He and Toothless landed outside their home, where their family was waiting for them.

Helena was jumping up and down in excitement; as soon as Hiccup dismounted, she tackled him and hugged him tight around the middle. “You’re back, you’re back, you’re baaaack!!”

“Yes, I’m back!” Hiccup laughed, scooping her up to hug her properly. Toothless nuzzled and licked Selena and Ebony, who both purred at him…or rather, Selena purred, and Ebony tried to climb on him. Selena picked her up in gummy jaws and set her on his back, and he rolled his eyes in good-natured exasperation at her.

“Welcome home, babe” Astrid smiled, rescuing her husband from their daughter. She went off to greet Toothless, and Astrid took advantage of this to pull Hiccup into a deep kiss. Never mind that the whole village could see them. Besides, the look on his face when she pulled away was adorable. “Did you have a good time?”

“It was…interesting, you could say” Hiccup admitted, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

Astrid raised an eyebrow. “Hiccup…”

“I’ll tell you all about it later” he said hastily, “but first…I got you presents.”

“Presents?!” Helena cried in delight, rushing over and tackling him all over again, knocking the wind out of him.

It was good to be home.


	7. Part Seven

At the end of the day, it had all turned out rather well, all things considered.

The dragon’s names had been cleared for the storehouse theft. Ragnar and Flare Twirl had come to an understanding; the other Icelandic chieftains, even the stubborner ones, had conceded to tell their tribes not to hunt dragons and to use dragon-friendly methods of keeping them at bay. Their dragons had not been stolen…well, they had, but they’d been rescued, and were none worse for the wear.

All in all, Hiccup felt pretty good about the way things had turned out. It didn’t seem like there were any loose ends to tie up…until he was talking to Eret about the peace talks with Flare Twirl. “I’m glad they could sort things out” the man smiled, “but you know, boss, you ought to be careful who you bring into the web. I mean, for everyone who thinks it’s an amazing trick and immediately obsesses over dragons like you do, there’ll be assholes like Isak who try to take advantage of you.”

“I know that, Eret. I’m not going to tell everyone I meet about it; and you know I get a migraine if I do it too much. But I think sometimes I might have to bring people into the web; it makes things so much easier. And for the record, I don’t obsess over dragons.”

Toothless and Eret gave each other _he’s kidding, right?_ looks.

“Might also make things harder, too” Eret remarked, “but I see where you’re coming from. It’s a pity you can’t give us the ability permanently. How come it worked with Astrid and your folks?”

“I guess…cos they’re family?” Hiccup shrugged. “I don’t really know how it works. I don’t even know why dragons can understand human speech at all. I mean, they don’t talk any differently than we do, so maybe that’s why, but it still doesn’t make much sense” he admitted.

Eret grinned. “So you’re messing with stuff that you don’t understand? What could _possibly_ go wrong?”

“Ha, ha” Hiccup deadpanned, before smiling and remarking, “It all turned out for the best, really. Everyone’s accounted for, our dragons are safe, there isn’t an angry mob coming after me”-

“Yet.”

“- and nobody had to be exiled.” Hiccup finished, ignoring Eret’s little jab. Yes, the traitors had been punished, but given what _could_ have happened to them, they had really gotten off easy.

Eret nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, I suppose all the loose ends are tied up” he agreed, before adding, “Well, except for one, of course.”

Hiccup gave him a questioning look, and Eret simply said, “Isak. Aren’t you going to talk to him?”

Frowning slightly, Hiccup couldn’t help but say, “Somehow I don’t think he’d want to talk to me. Besides, what would I even say to him?”

“Uh, ‘I’m sorry’ would probably be a good start” Eret remarked.

“Sorry for…? I mean, I’m over the whole kidnapping thing. He was desperate, I get that, and we escaped…Wait, are you talking about his brother getting killed? I feel sorry for him, but I’m not the one who” –

Eret held up a hand to cut him off. “Don’t take this the wrong way, boss, but you sound really arrogant right now” he said bluntly. Hiccup looked slightly insulted, but before he could protest, Eret continued, “I’m just saying you _sound_ arrogant. I mean, you feel sorry for him? That’s another way of saying you _pity_ him, and that’s the last thing he’ll want. I know you don’t mean it like that” –

“Well of course I don’t mean it like that” Hiccup couldn’t help but cut in, feeling a bit defensive. “I don’t…it’s not pity, I feel bad for him. If I lost someone close to me, I’d feel terrible – but Eret, that doesn’t mean it’s my fault! Adulfr started that war, not me.”

“Yeah, I know that. But the thing is, boss…it was one of your dragons that killed his brother. You and Toothless are the Alphas – anything your dragons do reflects on you. Badly, in this case” Eret pointed out. Hiccup frowned but said nothing, realising that he was right.

Eret winced a bit and added, “Also, I hate to say it but…maybe the reason he’s so against you and Toothless is because you _are_ the ones that killed his brother. Not deliberately, obviously, but still.”

Like any hard truth, it wasn’t something he wanted to hear, but something he needed to. Whether Hiccup liked it or not, Eret was right; one of his subjects had killed Isak’s brother, which meant he was at least partly responsible. He sighed. “You’re right. I should…I’ll talk to him. And Eret? Thank you, for, y’know, keeping me straight.”

Eret smiled and clapped him on the shoulder. “Anytime, boss.”

* * *

Isak was sitting in his prison cell when he heard footsteps approach. He looked up at the sound, only to see the person he least wanted to – and the man’s dragon. “Oh, it’s you. Come to gloat?” he asked bitterly.

Hiccup and Toothless stopped a few feet from the cell. “No” said Hiccup, “we came to apologise.”

Isak looked sceptical. “I mean it” he continued, “I’m here to apologise. As the leaders of our dragons, Toothless and I are responsible for what they do. Adulfr might have started the war, but it was one of our subjects that killed Hafni. I know this won’t change anything, but all I can do now is apologise on that dragon’s behalf.”

He hesitated, chest tight, but he had to ask. “Isak…” he began, and the man looked at him sharply. “The dragon that killed your brother…was it Toothless?” He had suspected a little that it might have been, given Isak’s animosity towards them, but he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge the possibility.

Isak rolled his eyes. “Don’t flatter yourself; you’re not the centre of everything, you know” he retorted. “No, it was another dragon that killed my brother, not your pet.

In the same moment, Hiccup felt both relief and indignation on Toothless’ behalf. “He’s not my pet” he replied automatically.

“Even though you ride on his back.”

“I mean it. Toothless isn’t my pet…he’s _my_ brother” Hiccup insisted, putting an arm over Toothless’ shoulders. The dragon purred affectionately and curled his tail around Hiccup in a similar gesture.

The other man looked less than impressed. “Oh, great, so you’re a sentimental liar” he scoffed, “Wonderful.”

“You know, I’m trying to be nice here” said Hiccup; he was getting a bit impatient. _Deep breaths, Hiccup. Don’t let him get to you._ “I’m not lying, Isak. I really did come here to apologise” he insisted, “I called you out for not coming to talk to me, but I didn’t even try to reach out to you. I just assumed you wouldn’t listen. That was arrogant of me and I…I should have been more open minded. So I’m sorry.”

Isak looked at him for a long moment. “Well, at least you’re willing to admit it” he said finally, and Hiccup had to fight to keep his face impassive. The man was getting on his nerves. “But I wasn’t talking about your apology” Isak added, to his bewilderment, “I was talking about the other lies you’ve spewed since you got here.”

Now he only felt insulted. “What? When did I – what lies?! I suck at lying. Ask anyone.”

“Oh really? First it was ‘dragons can understand us when we talk’. Then it was ‘I can understand them too’.”

“You weren’t even supposed to know about that!” Hiccup protested, “If your spies hadn’t been eavesdropping on us” –

Toothless nudged him and crooned comfortingly, imploring Hiccup to calm down. * _Don’t get angry. He’s just trying to get under your skin*._

Reigning in his emotions, Hiccup stroked Toothless’ scales to calm himself. Once he’d regained his composure, he cleared his throat and turned back to the cell. “Those weren’t lies, Isak. Dragons can understand us, it’s like a…a magic translator. I think it’s because they…they’re telepathic” he explained.

Isak gave him a disbelieving glower. “Do you really expect me to believe that?” he asked rhetorically. “You might have fooled the chieftains, Dragon Whisperer, perhaps even some of the townsfolk, but you won’t fool me. You’re nothing but a liar, a charlatan. And before you say anything, I already heard about how you trained your dragon to nod and shake his head. It’s no different from me training my dog to sit, lie down and roll over.”

 _Again with the pet thing._ “Is it really so hard to believe?” Hiccup asked, a bit exasperated. Now who was being close-minded? “Even if you don’t believe me, are you really going to hate _all_ dragons because of what one of them did? We were at war. Dragons aren’t mindless killers; they’re kind, and loyal. They’re _people,_ Isak.”

“They’re animals” Isak retorted immediately.

“ _We’re_ animals” Hiccup shot back. He didn’t expect that to be well-received; the first time he’d been faced with the idea, he hadn’t known what to make of it. Ages ago, back in the Night Fury nest, Obsidian had asked him why humans looked and acted so differently to other animals. He’d genuinely been bewildered by the question, because he’d never thought of humans as animals.

So Luna had asked, if humans weren’t animals, what were they? He’d not had an answer. The dragons pointed out that humans were made of flesh and bone, they had to eat and drink, they could see, smell and hear (just not very well), and they were born and died; just like any other animal. No matter what, Hiccup hadn’t been able to refute it.

Humans were animals; unique, in their own way, but so was every creature. It had been a somewhat uncomfortable feeling to realise this; not that he’d ever thought of himself as a gift from Odin, or something ridiculous like that, but he’d been taught that he – that a human – was special. It hadn’t taken long for Toothless to assure him that of course he was still special, even if he was another animal like them.

Isak just scoffed when he heard that. “Oh, I’m sure the hulking fire-breathers you surround yourself with are always on their best behaviour” he said mockingly.

 _Why am I even wasting my breath with this guy?_ Hiccup asked himself. The answer? _Because you can never leave well enough alone._

_Fair point._

“What….happened, to your brother?” Hiccup asked cautiously. He had a feeling it all came back to Hafni’s death. That was why Isak was so against dragons, and it probably had something to do with his adamant refusal to at least entertain the idea that dragons were smarter than they seemed.

Isak glowered at him, clearly wishing looks could kill. “That’s none of your business, dragon lover. You and your ‘brother’ should just get back to wherever it is you come from, and leave me alone” he declared, turning his back on them and staring fixedly at the stone back wall of the cell.

* * *

Hiccup sighed; what else could he do? “I talked to your chief” he couldn’t help but say. “He agreed that this tribe just isn’t ready to live with dragons. I never meant to…I guess I’ve gotten so used to having them around, I’d forgotten what how difficult it was when we first started living alongside each other. So…you don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Then he turned on his heel and walked away.

He and Toothless hadn’t quite made it to the door when they heard a cry of “Wait!”

Surprised, Hiccup paused with his hand on the doorknob and looked over his shoulder. Isak was standing at the bars again, his hands wrapped around them. Through gritted teeth, he said, “I _suppose_ I…accept your apology, and I……admit I may have acted rashly, before” he admitted grudgingly.

*May have?*

*Shush* Hiccup told Toothless. Aloud, he said cautiously, “Well…no harm done. Err, apology accepted.”

Isak nodded. For a few awkward moments, they just stood there, looking anywhere but directly at each other. Finally, just as Hiccup was beginning to think he should leave, Isak suddenly asked, “Can you _really_ understand them?”

Hiccup frowned, puzzled. “I thought you didn’t believe me?”

“I – I don’t. I merely…” Isak cleared his throat and put on a haughty air. “Answer me this, then, Dragon Whisperer. If dragons can understand us, then why would they not spare a man who begged for mercy?”

Hiccup sighed. “It’s complicated” he confessed, “even humans don’t always spare each other. Dragons don’t think the way we do; they’re more driven by their emotions. They can understand us but, because we can’t understand them properly, some of them see us as…beneath them. They wouldn’t spare humans because they don’t think we’re anything special.” He had no idea what else to say.

“I’m not sure if it would be better, if he had been killed by a creature that could think, rather than a bloodthirsty beast” Isak remarked, frowning. “At least with an animal you can blame it on instinct.” 

“Isak, for every dragon that wouldn’t spare a human, there are so many more who would. If they were ordinary animals, then I’d understand you treating them all the same, but they are anything but. Humans are all unique, and so are dragons” Hiccup tried to explain.

Isak looked at him for a long moment, before finally saying, “Prove it.”

Taken aback, Hiccup stammered “W-wait, what?!”

“You heard me. Whatever you did for Ormar, do it for me. Prove to me that you’re not a liar, and I’ll let bygones be bygones” Isak declared, spreading his hands in an open-palmed shrug.

Beside him, Toothless bristled a bit. “How do I know this isn’t about you using me?” Hiccup asked warily, one hand moving to rest on Toothless’ shoulder in reassurance.

Isak gave him a long-suffering look. “My reputation is ruined, Haddock. Nobody would believe me; nobody would even listen. Look…as much as I hate to say it, you were right. Holding a grudge was getting me nowhere; but I can’t move on until I know the truth. I need to see for myself that my brother was slain by a…a warrior, not a beast.”

Hiccup swallowed, and looked at Toothless. *Should we?*

*I still don’t think I trust him* Toothless replied, glancing at Isak. *I don’t want to let him into the web. Isn’t there something else we could do, if we really have to?* he wondered.

Hiccup’s brow furrowed in thought…then suddenly, he had an epiphany. “Isak, listen” he began, “I’ll prove it to you, on one condition. You don’t tell _anyone_ about this. Even if they won’t believe you, don’t tell them. I’ll keep your secret, so long as you promise to keep mine.”

“My secret?”

“I’ll step outside, and Toothless will stay here. You tell him something only you know, that I couldn’t have guessed, and he’ll tell it to me. Then I’ll say it back to you, but not to anyone else. So…do we have a deal?” he asked, reaching a hand out to shake.

Isak hesitated, then reached between the bars and shook Hiccup’s hand. Hiccup left and waited outside, far enough that he wouldn’t overhear anything accidentally. It wasn’t long before he heard Toothless calling him back, and returned.

His dragon told him what Isak had said, as the man himself watched them with wary confusion. At last, he turned to Isak and revealed, “You didn’t see Hafni die, but your men told you he was killed by a Fi- a Monstrous Nightmare, that he begged to be spared but the dragon…bit his throat anyway” he finished solemnly.

Several emotions flicked across Isak’s face in a single breath; surprise, grief, rage, even curiosity. He took a step back, his jaw tightening as if t stop his chin from dropping to his chest. His eyes slid from Hiccup to Toothless and back again. “I…and you weren’t listening?”

“I promise I wasn’t. I know I can’t prove it, but” –

Isak waved it off. “That is what I…and you…but _how_?”

“I can’t tell you how I do it” Hiccup insisted, “I didn’t even tell Ormar that much.” Yet the man had guessed it on his own….Hiccup tried not to show his discomfort. He had just been talking to Ormar _earlier that day_ about being more careful with whom he told about this. Was he making a mistake?

Well, if he was, then he’d just have to deal with the consequences. He couldn’t do nothing for fear that something _might_ go wrong; that wasn’t the way he did things.

“The dragon, that killed your brother…they were wrong” he told Isak, “and when we get back home, Toothless and I will make sure everyone in our pack knows that they should spare people if they ask for mercy, even if they’re human, and even if it’s a battle. I can do that much for you, Isak; I can make sure your brother didn’t die in vain.”

He waited silently for everything to sink in, absent-mindedly stroking Toothless’ scales. At last, Isak raised his head. “Thank you” he said. He wasn’t suddenly okay with it all, but now that he understood...

Hiccup and Toothless respectfully dipped their heads to him. “You’re welcome…goodbye, Isak. Send me a message with Eret, if you ever need to. Come on, bud” Hiccup beckoned, leading his dragon from the door. Toothless paused and looked back at Isak, conveying with his stare alone a warning; _betray us, and you will pay._

Isak met his gaze unflinchingly, and nodded, drawing a finger across his lips and flicking them away. Recognising the human signal for _I’ll keep your secret_ , Toothless purred in satisfaction and followed his other half out of the prison. As the door closed behind him, Isak sat on the bunk in his cell and wondered when the Dragon Whisperer would remember that he and Ormar were not the only ones to learn of this secret…


End file.
